Stories of Absence

The Artist in Residence at Pinea Linea de Costa, Rota, Spain, 2019

The one month long residency was structured around self-initiated project. The initial project proposal was rooted in my artistic engagement with representation of women and personal methodology that involves collecting orphan images in person, often involving international travel. I proposed to start with research to get somewhat familiar with local community and history, subsequently searching for visual presence and traces of women in the town of Rota, particularly if they not in the spotlight.

Sadly, I found out that women in Rota did not have their own visual imprint on the fabric of the town. Architecture, history, art, public images, literature - all was claimed by the men. There wasn’t a local craft present neither. I have made a connection with local librarian Sonja, who not only introduced me to the library collection regarding Rotarians but also very kindly shared images of her family photos with me. I did however feel that I would like to step out of my usual tracks and make truly distinctive works for this project. I have thought that sunny conditions of Rota create the perfect opportunity to take advantage of cyanotype photography technique, something I have not tried to date.

I have started to explore the technique. At first I have used a couple of items acquired in a second hand shop such as a corset and a handbag, something that typically might be associated with females. The results are very encouraging and I proceeded to experiment with my own jewellery. I have used the jewellery images in my collage works before to emphasise that women are precious. The cyanotype technique, being in fact a “ghost print” (an image created by exposing and removing an object) was lending itself well to the theme of absence. With this combination of specific objects and the technique I begun to feel that I am finally talking about the lack of the visibility of women. I acquired additional objects on the flea market and used my own garments, and experimenting further with combination of factors affecting the sun photography, I have completed the project.

The Crypt

The site specific installation in London, 2018.

The Crypt, a gothic space beneath the church in Euston, has the history of originally being a burial site between 1822 and 1854. To make site specific artworks I have taken into consideration the origin of the space, its spatial characteristics and stillness, the remaining gravestones and their exact location. I have not considered painting to be the best site specific response. Therefore I have created the work outside my painterly practice.

The work I have shown at The Crypt was conceived as “memento mori”. It has consisted of mirrored gravestones and the sound piece. Three mirrors were placed among the Victorian gravestones which confronted the viewer with their reflection next to the epitaphs. The sound had pre-recorded readings from fiction books, relating to time and passing, enhanced with a reverberating effect to mimic the quality of sound in the space. It included excerpts from: “ Angela Carter “The Wise Children”, Virginia Woolf “The Years”, Audrey Niffenegger “Her fearful symmetry”, Erin Morgenstern “Night Circus”, Hang Kan “The Vegetarian” and “The white book”, Hiromi Kawakami “Strange weather in Tokyo”, Amy Tan”The Kitchen God’s Wife”, Arundhati Roy “The God of small things”, Kirsty Logan “The Gracekeepers”. The title of the installation was “The thousand points of silver.” and it also comes from “The white book”