• ‘Rhythm of the Blue Marble’ | An international online exhibition

    Emergent Art Space is pleased to present the culminating online exhibition from the ‘Bookmark’ workshop, developed and led by Tel Aviv based artist and curator Einat Moglad. 

     

    Rhythm of the Blue Marble

    The Blue Marble is an image of earth taken on December 7, 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft on its way to the Moon, and is one of the most widely disseminated images of our planet.

    The astronauts in space were looking at our planet from a north east, far away, angle. They felt the urge to capture their experience in a snapshot that would later be the most referenced picture of our perception of our planet. Over time it also became a symbol of the uniqueness and fragility of our world....  

    In order to take a photo such as this, people had to invest great effort and endure the isolation of space required to take that step. During a space expedition, where every second on a spaceship is precious and thoroughly planned, the need to express and capture this image is a reflection of the meaning of art in understanding our world, our true reality. 

    In this exhibition, we take the viewer on a journey with the intent of capturing something similar and offer a new perspective of experiencing and understanding the world around us.

    Under the burden of the global pandemic, in a time of great shifts in lifestyles, routine, isolation, detachment and general estrangement from what was previously known as “our common daily-life”, this new situation has generated a lot of pressure to take brave steps into the unknown. This was the perfect moment for a group of artists around the world to try and gather as a force for creating a new form of art. 

    This group operated through the methodology of the Bookmark Workshop and Residency framework. This workshop was designed as an act of healing for artists, amidst a world crisis. It was meant as a framework for provoking and accelerating a reflective process aiming to dig deeper, to a core. This process allowed the artists to send out their “rays of light” from the dark elements of daily existence. Their artworks are an offering to the formation of a new world, an alternative genesis. 

    This genesis is the moment of giving birth to the unknown; it is the new foundation of our world to be. It is a world that moves to a new beat, a rhythm of breaking, connecting, playing, forming and reforming and being in constant flux. There is an underlying rhythm to this changing world around us. As change is the only stability that we can truly rely on.

    We stand now at a moment meant to tune in to this new rhythm and redirect us from expectations, from planning, from “knowing” the future.

    As a bookmark marks a place in the book narrative, we try to mark this moment in time and space. A moment that offers us a key to acceptance of our new world, and a way to tune in to its new forms, unveiling before us.

    --- Read more ---

     Birth

    Mónica Vilá, untitled from the series 'Knowing you from the inside' | photograph, 30x50,  2020


    'Spring' | Performance on video, 2020

     'The story goes that every time nymph Cloris speaks flowers will come from her mouth...

    In these dark times it makes me wonder how Cloris would live, how she creates spring and how spring will look in her world. I see her as a futuristic version of ‘Spring’.' 

    --- Read more ---
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    Grow                                                                             

    Rebecca Rippon, 'Impossible state of nature' | Silkscreen print 38x50 cm, 2020
    Stephanie Ferreira , "Florescer" | Mixed media, Digital Art, 2020

    'My final work for the workshop deals with three different layers. The first layer is the portrait of a childhood friend... 


    that is a Drag Queen called
    Levi-Debbie Banida, who is an admirable and strong human being,
    but also full of grace and beauty. 

    The second layer is nature and its strength.  My friend and I both admire the flowers that grow through the city, their strength and resilience, so I started collecting images of them to add to my artwork. 

    The third is the idea of  a self portrait, because I also see me growing and evolving in cold and adverse environments. 

    Furthermore, in the work I had the courage to go away from the oil on canvas medium, and actually experiment with
    digital collage, photography and more casual ways of drawing.' 

    --- Read more ---
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        Stream         

    Nino Kundadze, "Breaking Through" | Digital art, 9898 x 7004 px, 2020

    'This artwork is a result of the visual expression of the  journey Nino went through during the Bookmark
    project, discovering the depths of herself.'

    Ruth Gilmour, "Table of change" | Mixed media on paper, 60X40 cm, 2020
    Reut Traum, Untitled | Acrylic on 23X31 cm, Aquarelle paper, 2020

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Ruth:  'This artwork is built up of many layers. Each layer documets a moment in time...  

     from when the Coronavirus pandemic hit Ireland.

    It affected all people on our Island from its arrival at the end of March 2020. It began with school and workplace tables left empty as we isolated in our homes, through to the many changes we have made and experienced to keep well and protect each other to this present day.' 

    --- Read more ---

    Reut:  'In creating this portrait series, I've formed a kind of ceremony, a ritual that allowed me to create...

    every night for the duration of the Bookmark workshop.

    I limited the time of the preparation sketch in pencil, drew myself by looking at my camera phone in a selfie mode, and then continued to work with acrylic paints. Usually I draw only with black ink.  Very seldom will I make my own self portrait and make it the theme of a creation. In this process, I dived in and dared to explore new methods and materials.  I was able to develop a new unique language in color that continues the artistic style I've been developing throughout the years and is recognisable when viewers see my black and white works.'

    --- Read more ---

     =================================================

     Terra                                                                   

    Francis Annagu, "Burnt" | Photography 2020
    Carla Cristino, Untitled | Mixed media, 2020

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    Horizon 

    Art Stoop, Untitled | Mixed media Photograph, 2020

      Désidératé and Subhash Maskara, "Memoriance" | video, 2020

    'During the lockdown, I’ve remembered  Boris Vian’s novel "L’écume des Jours"... 

    where one of the main characters dies because of a flower being trapped in her lungs. Thinking about the impossibility of breathing and dancing in our present times, I’ve invited artist Subhash Maskara to work together on this short movie we call Memoriance, that combines ideas from Vian’s novel and music of a progressive French band and dance. The footage was done during  a trip I did in Dortmund this summer with live feedback from Mumbai.' -Désidératé 
    --- Read more ---
    Magdalena Zając, 'Frida' | photography, design, styling, 2020

    'During the quarantine, life and creation in lockdown made me feel a bit chained to bed, without being able to move...

    Depending on external factors, I felt as if I had to stay in the tight space of my room without being able to leave it for no reason. It reminded me of the life and post-accident experience of a painter whose art is particularly close to me - Frida Kahlo, actually Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, because despite the fact that we know her as 'Frida', her first name was the same as mine. Feminism, which has become the subject of her paintings many times, is also an important subject to me. Her works do not allow sexualization of a woman. Her art is a symbol of constant struggle and opposition to the accepted rules of the dominant ideology, disregarding the significance and potential of women, and displaying in the images of human blood a manifestation of emancipation. I decided to create a photoshoot for costumes designed by me, on which I painted illustrations that are the reinterpretations of Frida's most important paintings. I also wanted to take some characteristic elements of Mexican / Polish folk and transpose them into the present day. 

    --- Read more ---

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Stephanie Ferreira, "Nascer" | Mixed media, Digital Art, 2020
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        Body              

    Fitz Simmons, Untitled | print, 2020
    Mónica Vilá's essay
    Mónica Vilá, Untitled from series Knowing you from the inside | Photography, 30x50, 2020

    “Knowing you from the inside” explores with photography and writing the question about whether it's possible to know someone by looking at their body from the inside.

    The approach may seem a literal one, but is actually metaphorical: the possibility of knowing someone's inner being through the body. This work looks
    to reflect on the human body, how medicine perceives it, the relationship between
    human beings and nature, life and death, among other things. 

    --- Read more ---
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     Mind          

    Reut Traum | Acrylic on 23X31 cm Aquarelle paper, 2020
    Nandini Kamalakar, Untitled (mind Mandala)| Print, 2020

    'My displayed art work Mind Mandalas are a result of the free flow workshop. It was essentially an exercise to encourage spontaneous art without any rigidity. My art work represents structured and unstructured thoughts.'

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         Swarm               

    Ruth Gilmour | mix media on paper, 60X40cm, 2020
    Clara Aden, Untitled | 2020

     “I can do it” is one from the redefining identity series that I have been researching...


    I have so many memories,  but a memory l will always remember is my twin daughters playing with
    my first birthday baby doll. This artwork reflects on Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of gender development,
    the concept of gender constancy--children’s understanding of the irreversibility of their sex. 

    --- Read more ---
    Stephanie Ferreira, 'Crescer' | Mix media, Digital Art, 2020

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      Pressure

     Subhash Maskara, 'Do androids dream of electric sheep?' | Video, 2020

    'Do Androids dream of electric sheep?” talks about the idea of human existence in the digital world...

    viz. the human stimulated world. I have incorporated various new techniques and narrative styles in its development.  I chose to design the film with colour pallets of Red-Green-Blue to represent how image sensors look at the human world. I lit the visuals, adapting the techniques of projection mapping. This way I could achieve the desired feel of the dystopian world of the machines.

    I hope viewers enjoy the film and it triggers a debate about the future of Humanity and its co-existence.' 

    --- Read more ---


    Paulius Šliaupa, 'Little Crown' | Video, 2020

     'A surreal journey exploring the shapes transforming in the dark night.'

     

    Maria Di Gaetano, 'Musical Voyage' | Acrylic on canvas, 60X80cm, 2020

     

     

    Maria Di Gaetano's Haiku

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Kojo Biney, 'Entangled' | Video, 2020
     'Among the heavy junk of the things floating and sunk in the universal sea are ghost nets and plastic debris, which are killing thousands of marine lives... 
    Wasted drifting nets and plastic bags or debris pose a threat to the lives that depend on the waterbodies and the ocean for food. To sea turtles, or other animals, a floating plastic bag looks like ajellyfish for consumption. Waste nets entangles sea birds, fish and marine mammals, making itdifficult to move or act. The above challenges are a sickness in the environment, in addition to the current pandemic. As an artist, I believe we need to reflect to heal. We should healourselves and our lands in isolation. 
    --- Read more ---
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     Rhythm

    Magdalena Zając, 'Frida' | Painting on fabric, design, 2020
    =================================================================

      We           

    Anirban Mishra, 'From the Distance' | Mix media on paper, 14x16in, 2020
    Analia Adorni, 'Together' | Watercolors on hardboard, triptych (three parts of 0,18x0,50m,0,15x0,50m, and 0,50x0,50m, 2020

    'This work has been made during the lockdown and reflects on solitude and the need for communion with other persons.'

    ================================================================================================================================================

    The artists

    Maria di Gaetano / Cambridge, UK

    Born in Sicily, Maria started to draw at the age of five thanks to her artistic family members. After completing the Artistic High School Diploma, she moved to Florence, where she obtained a BA with Honours in Scenography at the Academy of Fine Arts. While in Florence, Maria used to write for online magazines, reviewing performances, exhibitions and new music bands. She also published some of her poems in two anthologies as she made England her home. A qualified graphic designer and teaching assistant, she is an art and languages tutor for adults and kids, as well as a freelance interpreter. Maria loves everything that is related to art, philosophy, theatre, music and aesthetics and she is working for an MA in art history, attending the Open University. She lives and works in Cambridge in the UK.
    I have always been a visual artist and now I love working with acrylics on canvas or mixed media on paper which includes pastels, graphite, ink and watercolours. I do love working on digital platforms as well. My work is mostly based on portraiture and mostly female figure illustrations. I try to always put together geometrical elements and human figures, but also include natural elements and animals. I do believe that we are point, line and surface and this is why I love putting different elements together. Thanks to the exploration of expressionism in the abstract through the Bookmark workshop, I have started painting. Making my paintings in synchrony with music and what my feelings suggest I do. I am fond of the principles of the Italian "Rinascimento" and Romantic and Victorian styles, mostly in figurative art and literature, and I do love Japanese Ukiyo-e and Shunga style. I do love, mixing them into my creations even if it is not so obvious to see them explicitly.
    www.mariadigaetano.com

    Mónica Vilá / Bogotá, Colombia 

     

     

    She develops her artistic work mainly with photography and writing. Her photographs have a strong influence of literature, especially in how the quotidian things became strange to themselves (estrangement mechanism) and can be observed with renewed eyes, acquiring in this way, multiple senses. She is interested on reflecting about the relationship that humans has with its own body (Through sickness ad its different marks and traces), also with the objects, and the landscape, topics that have led her to rethink and approach themes such as memory, violence, time, among others.

     

     

     


    Paulius Šliaupa / Vilnius, Lithuania and Ghent, Belgium  

     

    Paulius holds a BA in painting and a MFA in contemporary sculpture from the Vilnius Academy of Arts, as well as a MFA in media arts from KASK, Ghent. Selected exhibitions include the solo exhibition “Dès Vu”, Meno Nisa, Vilnius (2019) and the group exhibitions “Oooh”, Netwerk, Aalst, Belgium (2020), “The upper hand”, IKOB, Eupen, Belgium (2020) and “In connection”, Δωμάτιο/Domatio, Athens, Greece (2020). Šliaupa is part of the HISK post-graduate programme.
    Paulius’ works explore the relationship(s) between culture and nature, the interaction of ambience and light that affects our daily lives. From video installations and experimental movies for the cinema to objectlike paintings, his oeuvre encompasses a wide range of artistic media. By accumulating the flow of painterly images, atmospheric sounds and poetic energy, the artist creates sensual narratives. Most projects consist of multiple works, grouped around specific themes, such as organic structures, rituals in nature, the flow of natural and artificial light and absurd poetic happenings. 
    www.vimeo.com/sliaupa 
    www.instagram.com/paulius_sliaupa/?hl=en

     

     

     


    Rebecca Rippon / San Francisco, USA

    Rebecca Rippon is a US artist whose work explores the intersection of nature and constructed spaces. She works primarily in printmaking and brings an experimental approach to traditions in printmaking. She received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and was awarded a Cadogan Contemporary Art Award from the San Francisco Foundation. Rebecca teaches printmaking at the University of California Berkeley Art Studio and in the San Francisco Art Institute’s Public Education department. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
    Nature and plant life is my visual language, and I developed it as a means of interrogating our reality. Nature has no agenda other than existing and ensuring its continuity. It throws artificiality into stark relief. I am fascinated by the ways in which nature makes its way back into the structures built to discourage it, or keep it out.
    In bringing nature’s small elements to the forefront, I reveal something unseen, invite a new thought process, open a new path upon the one which was already there. My work offers rich visual fields of these possibilities for contemplation.
    Working in printmaking, I connect my process to nature. As my image builds in layers, it emulates nature’s interconnectedness and complexity. There are elements hidden beneath the surface layer which give shape to what can be seen. Repetition can describe movement or depth. Multiplying images mimic nature’s endless making of copies; from a small selection comes a proliferation, expanding into the available space.
    https://rebeccarippon.com

    Nino Khundadze / Tbilisi, Georgia

     

    Nino Khundadze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. Still in the Soviet Union at the time, she witnessed its end as a child. She was totally into art from early childhood. After school, she studied at the Art Academy, finished her master’s degree in architecture and worked in several architectural studios for several years. After this, her life changed, transforming from the usual one into something totally different, full of adventures, full of stories that one might not even believe were real. Life got her back into art. There is so much she wants to tell. There is so much she wants to write in words and paint with colors, that sometimes she thinks one life is not enough.  So here she is, doing her best for this moment, sharing through her art and her words.
    http://www.instagram.com/artfromnino
    http://www.facebook.com/ninokhundadzeart

     

     


    Clara Aden / Lagos, Nigeria

     

     

    Clara Aden is a passionate painter, well known for her mind-blowing pencils drawings. Born Elizabeth Omolara Adenugba, she studied painting at the Federal Technical College Yaba Lagos. She has exhibited in the US, Norway, Germany and Hungary.  She is the Vice President of the Female Artists Association of Nigeria (FEAAN) and the President of the Beyond Borders Artists Association of Nigeria (BBAAN).  She works in oil paint, acrylic, conte pastels, charcoal and pencil.  
    https://www.Instagram.com/claraaden
    https://www.facebook.com/claraadenart
    https://www.twitter.com/claraaden1
    https://www.saatchiart.com/claraaden

     

     


    Ruth Gilmour / Northern Ireland, UK

     

     

    Ruth Gilmour was born in Northern Ireland and is a self-taught artist.  Ruth’s contemporary and abstract work has been her focus of late. Working on a new body of work, which developed through the ‘Bookmark’ collaboration, her palette is influenced by a deep sense of nostalgia as she paints places and memories that hold a deep sense of significance. Her work is made up of many layers of mixed media which build up to create her final piece.  
    Recently, Ruth has begun to make her mark as she shares stories and develops her voice through her pieces in the art world. In 2020 she is exhibiting in Zurich, Switzerland and New York, US.  She will be in Barcelona, Spain in 2021. Ruth has also worked on private commissions for a number of years. 
    www.ruthgilmour.com
    www.instagram.com/ruth_gilmour
    www.facebook.com/artbyruthgilmour

     

     


    Carla Cristino / Lisbon and Palmela, Portugal

     

     

    Born in Lisbon, Portugal, her academic path included: CESE of Art and Technology (Teacher Training) at the Superior School of Decorative Arts of the Ricardo Espírito Santo Foundation and Bachelor of Arts in Decorative Arts and Furniture Design at the Superior School of Decorative Arts of the Ricardo Espírito Santo Foundation. 
    She is working towards her masters degree about drawing processes at the University of Lisbon.
    Now based in Palmela, Portugal, she has a fascination for the detail of the natural world. She is working with drawing, monoprint and artist books. She is using found objects and different kinds of paper as tangible links to explore texture.
    https://www.instagram.com/cristino2822/

     

     


    Analia Adorni / Rafaela, Argentina and Volterra, Italy

     

    Born in Argentina, she studied at the National University of Arts in Buenos Aires, moved to Europe with the Cooperation Program of the Spanish Government, and afterwards with a fellowship for arts and artisans of Tuscany Region (Italy).  She is working in Tuscany in a program for artists and artisans. The concepts of her artworks are spirituality and the relationships of nature/culture, natural/artificial and nature/spirituality. 
    The artwork presented in this exhibition has been made during the lockdown and reflects on solitude and the need for communion with other persons.
    https://www.instagram.com/analiaadorniarts/

     

     


    Kim de Weijer / Netherland

    Behaviors of people always intrigued me and made me wonder about the light and dark sides in the momentum and the development of personalities. What will happen to your psyche and how will you behave without knowledge of the social structures of society, as we know them? With the performances I created in this question, I’ve been accepted to the Sandberg Institute (MFA, Amsterdam), where I’ve continued to create performances and transformed my work from performance on video to live performance. With these live performances, I performed at many exhibitions, openings and performance events, like Art Pie (KunstVlaai) and the Moscow Biennale.  
    As an artist teacher, I teach art at primary and high schools. At this moment, I’m developing education in performance art for children. Performance art education still only exists at universities and academies, and is not being taught to our younger generation.
    Momentarily, I’ve been re-defining my medium to work with in art, for I feel the need to expand my performances more visually, instead of performance by itself. Therefore, I’m exploring new materials to work with. My fascination with behaviors and interactions with others are explorations into creating a new world on its own.
    www.kimdeweijer.nl

    Anirban Mishra, Kolkata, India

    Anirban Mishra is an artist who graduated from the Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship in 2017 and finished his MFA in painting at Hyderabad Central University in 2019.  His work has been included in several exhibitions nationally and internationally.
    The main theme of my artistic creations is LONELINESS. In the present society, everything is surrounded by vibrance and jubilance, and everyone indulges in this apparently busy lifestyle. But actually at the end of every day every human being is somehow lonely, in spite of being amidst a busy daily schedule. This loneliness mixed with nature’s beauty is the idea of my painting. Something which is missing in nature, something which has created a decline in the society, something that is called loneliness in human life - these are the things I try to find in my creations.

     

     


    Art Stoop / Maassluis, Rotterdam

     

     

     

    I am a contemporary artist from Maassluis, a town situated in nearby Rotterdam, in Netherlands. My unusual name attracts attention as much as my art. I am out of the box. My style is mainly abstract with many colors. Inner chaos is reflected in splashes of paint on the canvas. Although I am inspired by every material I get, I am not limiting myself from making use of everything I find: wall paint, acrylic or oil paint, turpentine, wood, even concrete. I like to experiment and make something out of nothing. Lately, I am into street-art and graffiti. I have autism but I am more than that. I will show it and create my pieces of art in Maatwerk autisme. I will find my place in society. 

     

     

     


    Désidératé / Paris, France

    Désidératé is a transdisciplinary artist preparing a PhD in dance, creativity and AI at the INREV laboratory of the EDESTA in Paris under the direction of Chen Chu-Yin. Recently she worked as an assistant for Henier Goebbels and his anthology of "Sound & Spaces" in Bogotá, Colombia at UNAL. Between 2016 and 2018 she collaborated with Michel Cerda as a performer and assistant director of "La Source des Saints" project (Théâtre de la Commune, T2G, Theatre Dijon Bourgogne, Theatre La Joliette, Studio Théâtre de Vitry...). Since April 2019, she coordinates the Romanian Committee of the Eurodram network. Her physical education is a mix of trainings she experienced from buto with Atsoushi Takenouchi, GaGa training with Batscheva Company, Odin Teatret's laboratory, Viewpoints, Open floor and so on. Her work focuses on dance, dramaturgy of the body, new media and notions like reality, perception and transformations.

     

    Isaac Kojo Biney Aggrey professionally known as KOJO BINEY holds a BA in Arts Education. He is an artist and art educator.He has employed multiple art techniques, such as painting, sculpture, design, installation and performance art. He practically engages with the environment, society, habitation and various cultures to dialogue frankly on the existence of life, raising alarm on issues across all circles, including politics, economics, education, family, society and the environment. As an environmental artist, he feels the responsibility to address issues that society tends to neglect or overlook and to inversely impact lives within the environment – sustaining it in the memory of his audience.
    https://www.instagram.com/kojobineynatureart?r=nametag
    https://www.instagram.com/kojobiney?r=nametag
    https://www.facebook.com/kojobineynatureart/

     

     


    Subhash Maskara / India

     

     

    I believe in films as an expression for social awareness, open discussion and change. I strive to do thought-provoking films, which may have an impact on viewers, triggering various emotions along with the pleasure of experiencing audio-visual stories.  My research interest comprises modern and contemporary changes in society, politics, human behavior and the study of mythology and spirituality within a scientific paradigm. 
    Filmography on IMDB: Subhash Maskara
    https://www.instagram.com/subhashmaskara/

     

     


    Francis Annagu / Southern Kaduna, Nigeria

     

    Francis Annagu is a documentary photographer, poet, and researcher  who lives and works in Southern Kaduna, Nigeria. He works in these arts/formats because his work explores human psychology, nature, culture, social and racial injustice, inequality, climate change, migration  and workers’ rights. He's inspired by the visual artist James Barnor, because his visual works are very powerful and socially relevant. He's also inspired by exhibitions and publications, because it helps audiences to pay attention and perceive more deeply the environment that they occupy, the way through which his art works are received, and the resulting discourse and reflections that are key elements.
    Francis Annagu's art-making process consists of recording still images, and telling stories through poetry. This is important to understanding his work because it involves a lot of artistic processes and engagement with the human and natural environment. He is connected to the contemporary critical dialogue of his medium through current discussions in social theory. The ideal exhibition space for his work is a gallery (physical and digital) because it is an open, physical or digital space which allows him to connect with his audience through conversations and feedback.
    https://www.instagram.com/francis_annagu/
    The Art Project & Lab

     


    Magdalena Zając / Krakow, Poland and Belgrade, Serbia

     

    Magdalena Zajac is a MA Scenography and Costume Design student at The Cracow Academy of Fine Arts (partly on an international exchange in Textile and Fashion Design at The University of Ljubljana and The University of Arts Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade) and a Graphic Design graduate at The Norwid Secondary School of Fine Arts in Lublin. She is interested in sculptural installations, social movement projects and design.
    One of the most important aspects of her artistic and design work is the theoretical and conceptual part, which she devotes a lot of time to. She tries to evoke emotions and move something in people, sometimes preferring negative emotions, so that people can feel uncomfortable. This allows them to stop for a moment and do some reflection.
    https://www.instagram.com/mdzajac/?hl=en
    https://mdjzajac.wixsite.com/magdalenazajac

     

     

     

     


    Stephanie Ferreira / São Paulo, Brazil and currently in Rome, Italy

     

    Born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1996, Stephanie Ferreira was raised in a very multicultural and also turbulent environment.  Throughout her youth she kept moving to different cities, being presented with even more diverse realities and cultures. In 2016, she went to study Fine Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was able to refine her skills as a painter. Now living in Rome, Italy, she studies in a couture/ tailoring  school, pursuing the knowledge to become an artisan and also working as an artist.
    My work tends to be about people I know and memories, both are mostly linked to hurt, even if many of my portraits look light and fun.  For me, as an artist, I see some pain deeply connected within. I don't believe that pain and hurt are things fully negative, because they can lead to healing. Through the healing, we grow spiritually. When I embraced  this way of seeing adversity and experiences, I  changed the whole way I go through life. It helps me to go against the fear of living, the fear of the world.
    https://www.artstephanie.com
    https://www.instagram.com/stephmrf/

     


    Nandini Kamalakar / Bangalore, India

     

     

    I am primarily a self-taught artist with experience in all mediums – water, acrylic and oil. My art journey began during my school days when I would attend regular summer art camps and weekend classes at Chitrakala Parishath, a renowned art college in Bangalore. I have taken part in several art contests at the school level, most notably the Camel art contests and the Nicholas Roerich Foundation art contest, winning prizes in both. I kept pursuing art as a hobby throughout my years as an MBA professional in the corporate world. I have taken part in group shows, in Bangalore, Hyderabad and the UK. I also have a keen interest in Mysore traditional painting.

     


    Fitz Simmons / Bloomington, Indiana, USA

     

     

     

    Fitz Simmons is a creator residing in Bloomington, Indiana. Their background is in brain science, language, and animal behavior. Their front ground is in writing, drawing, and making puns. Fitz likes comic books, conversations about cosmology, and confabs concerning cats. Expertise in doodling.

     

     

     

     


     Jiaoyang Li / China and New York, USA

    Jiaoyang Li is a Chinese poet and visual artist currently based in New York. Her literary work has appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books' China Channel, 3:AM, Datableedzine, Harana Poetry, Chinese News Magazine, Spittoon Magazine, Enclave Poetry, Voice and Verse poetry magazine, and others. Her interdisciplinary practices have been supported by the New York Foundation for the Arts, New York Live Arts Center, The Immigrants Artist Biennial, Performa Biennial, Artyard Center, Surface Gallery, and others. She serves as the co-founder of an interdisciplinary poetic practice journal. 
    www.jiaoyangli-textile.com

     


    Reut Traum / Jerusalem, Israel

     

     

    Reut Traum is a multidisciplinary artist and a graduate of the Ceramic and Glass Design Department in “Bezalel” Academy of Art and Design.  Currently living and creating in Jerusalem. Traum’s works were presented at B.Y5 Gallery and Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, Tel Aviv, in Upstream Gallery, NYC, USA, and in a premier Dou exhibition at Beita Gallery, Jerusalem.
    http://reuttraum.com/
    https://www.instagram.com/reuttraumartist/

     

     

     

  • ‘Calling Across Distance’ by Valerie Amani | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Tanzania-based artist and EAS correspondent, Valerie Amani, offers her perceptive observations and reflections on EAS’s current online exhibition, 'Calling Across the Distance'.

    'Around the Sky' by Raka Panda | Mixed media on canvas

     

    The role of the artist has many times been misunderstood, but never disputed. Through creating, artists are an integral part of capturing the human experience in ways of metaphor and emotion translated to image. Art makes us see better. Calling Across the Distance is a collection of observations that allows us to see beyond the face masks, sanitizers and other pandemic paraphernalia.

     

     

    'Calling Across the Distance' by Adikinyi Otsomo Kondo | Digital collage

     

    The exhibition starts with an introduction to sky, a familiar friend once taken for granted, shapeshifting from Raka Panda's dreamy multimedia offerings of market space to Adikinyi Otsomo Kondo's digitally-crafted shooting stars. The sky, I believe, is a reflection of what cannot be touched - followed by other familiarities such as a tree here and a wall there. Then there is a suggested shift in tone - suddenly the skies turn into an empty street in Anirban Mishra's “From the Distance” charcoal drawing. A manifestation of the feeling of loneliness that comes with isolation.

    'From the Distance' by Anirban Mishra | Charcoal on paper
    'Untitled 3' by Hannah Sullivan | Oil & cement on calico

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    'Emotions' by Ong Jing Ren | Acrylic & charcoal on paper

     

    As the exhibition continues to unfold, we start to go inside; inside the home and inside the mind. The switch to abstract works allows for a raw emotional connection to color and form, and pieces like Hannah Sullivan's work are somewhat confrontational. What are you looking at? How does it make you feel? It is almost as if the collection of abstract and textured pieces each embody emotions of love, fear, pain, confusion and a search for stability. It leaves us open, and when we start seeing painted and photographed faces it is almost as if we pay more attention to them - looking for what they may be hiding. In the case of artists such as Ong Jing Ren and Vensa Temu, the subjects are turned inside out, representation of tension made clear.

     

     

    'My Other Side' by Vensa Temu | Charcoal & graphite on paper
    'How to get closer while keeping a distance?' by Robert Vogt | Digital painting and collage

     

    Robert Vogt depicts a relatable concept of digital romance, affection pouring into pixels. In a moment where love is needed in the flesh, many of us have felt cheated when confined to cancelled flights, network errors and interrupted calls. As we get closer to the end of the exhibition, images become video. We are immersed in sound, moving text and shifting canvases. Amalie Klitgaard presents a diary format reenactment of the over-saturation of pandemic media, juxtaposed against the repetition of her personal indoor rituals. The video is almost an alert of how desensitized we may have become. Amalie films herself in a somewhat robotic way. With time and space an irrelevant thing, she invites us to contemplate where we go next in our reintroduction to a “normal”.

     

    If there is one thing that resounds clearly in an overview of the multiplicity of media showcased, it is that there is no one “normal” and the notion of normal will have to be rejected by us. Landscapes, bodies, and intricacies of emotion all gathered differently to create each art piece. This is the beauty; the agency of choosing what it is that should be said, and every choice being relatable but different. The exhibition creates a wonderful archive consisting of multicultural narratives to be added as a contribution to this extraordinary moment in history. Art has served its purpose.

    The last item is a video art piece by artist Qafar Rzayev. He waves a flag from left to right, a surrender turned to an act of remembrance of all the life lost while welcoming a returned peace. This exhibition is a necessary exercise to be aware of our perception and reaction to images; how we see, or rather whose eyes we are seeing through. The visual journey leads us under and above passageways, through continents, cities and homes, with each encounter further exposing our vulnerabilities … our similarities. The images are an amalgamation of what it means to exist right now, in this intersection that has brought us face to face with our mortality on a global scale. Calling Across the Distance is an extended virtual hand that is there to remind us that we belong to each other. Despite our differences and borders and cultural barriers, we share much more than a pandemic - we share our humanity.

    Click here to see the Calling Across the Distance online exhibition


    Valerie Amani is an artistic explorer based in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. Her multimedia approach includes incorporating textile, poetry, moving image and digital collage into her work. She has won awards in fashion and has co-authored a book titled Black Amara, a visual and literary journey of love, loss and healing. She experiments with the elements of memory and emotion, her art pieces having narratives around the changing complexities of identity and body, along with the nuances of daily existence through a neo-african feminine lens.

    Instagram: @ardonaxela | website: www.valerieamani.com

     

  • ‘Departure’: a young artists’ exhibition | Kolkata, India

    According to the dictionary ‘Departure’ is the action of leaving to start a new journey or a deviation from an accepted, prescribed, or usual course of action. The show ‘Departure’, which was in view at Ganges Art Gallery in Kolkata in February 2020, paves its path towards both the conceptual and physical departure of the seven emerging artists from conventional art practice.

     

    All seven artists, tied by the common thread of getting their education at Kala Bhavana, the Art Department of the Visva Bharati University, bring their socio-political concerns and personal histories inside the white cube space. Each artist's personality is prominently established through seven distinct visual languages.

    According to renowned Indian artist and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore, art-making is synonymous with personality formation,  "Personalities form where there are encouragement and freedom of choice, unstifled with a rigid curricular structure"  (Anshuman Dasgupta in Bauhaus Imaginista Journal).  It can be said that their individual approaches come from Tagore’s philosophy, in which Kala Bhavana as an institute is deeply rooted.

    Prasanta Sahu, who himself was a student of Kala Bhavana and now is a professor in the Painting Department of the same institute, has directly or indirectly taught these seven young artists during their bachelor's and master's years. Hence he was aware of their practice and journey of transformation and evolution. He very sensibly brings their works together to create a confluence of traditional mediums and unconventional approach. In his introductory note he states, “Hailing from different parts of the country, the common thread tying their practice together is that, even though most of them work with traditional mediums, all of them have rejected the conventional methods of image-making.”

    'Khoai Landscape 1' by Ghanashyam Latua | Pen & Ink, Pricking with Needle

    Ghanashyam Latua has found a different language - pricking the paper with a needle, metaphorically imitating the way the land is mindlessly excoriated by agonizing mechanical processes. For him the surface of the paper acts as the land and his action of mark-making by pricking the paper skin is a metaphorical gesture of violence committed towards the land to appropriate resources for industrial and developmental purposes. He not only highlights the rampant excavation of land for our greed but also questions the idea of development and how it may affect the future. The series which he displayed in the show is a pen and ink rendition of the diminishing Khoai landscape of Santiniketan on an excoriated paper surface.

    'Untitled' by Kalpana Vishwas | Watercolor on Hand-Cut Paper

    Kalpana Vishwas explores naturally occurring phenomena like decay and aging as a metaphor for the ephemeral character of life. She engages with a traditional medium like watercolor and produces enlarged detailed paintings of leaves to imitate the natural patterns created by parasites or other micro-organisms. Her series of magnified studies of six different leaves with intricate details and layers invites the viewers to a space which is generally ignored or overlooked, but has so much to convey.

    '3 States... The Transitory Journey' (Detail) by Arpita Akhanda | Paper Weave Digital Print of Life-Sized Self Portrait and Original Maps of Three States from which My Family Migrated: West Bengal, UP and Odisha in Three Respective Languages

    Arpita Akhanda (who is also the writer of this review) has adopted the practice of weaving as her language to create a fabric of forgotten narratives of her family history during India-Pakistan partition. In this piece ‘3 States...the transitory journey’ she weaved the maps of the three different states from which her family has migrated, during and after partition, on her life-size photograph, thus creating an abstract relationship between image-text, past-present, identity-existence, and memory- physicality. Along with the long scroll of life-size weaving, she also displayed a zoomed-in section of the five specific cities from which the family has relocated. The language of weaving is a metaphor that speaks of forgotten and lost narratives.

    'Chulha' (Detail) by Ujjal Dey | Khaka Print, Drawing and Hand-Paint with Natural Dyes on Cotton Cloth

    Ujjal Dey, trained in textile design, experiments with natural dyes and hand-painted textiles. His ‘Chulha’ series not only explores the forgotten world of preparation of colors from natural resources but also remembers the ‘chulha’, a forgotten object once very familiar to every household in India. The process of painting the triptych is inspired by the traditional Kalamkari process of dyeing the cloth initially with myrobalan and buffalo milk and then painting with colors extracted from natural sources like Catechu, myrobalan and Kalamkai ink, prepared by fermenting jaggery and iron rust. His series is a narration of his memory of the objects used by her mother and grandmother and the activity involved in collecting the fuel material for the oven.

    'Remembrance' (Detail) by Janhavi Khamka | Woodcut and Stop-Motion

    Janhavi Khemka, trained in Printmaking, gives a new dimension to woodcuts. She transforms the prints into miniature objects and creates a room full of memories. To enter into her created worlds one has to switch on the lights and go through their minute details and intricacies. Being hearing impaired, she presents a slice of her memories of the time spent with her mother to learn how to speak. In her note she syas “I have made my room with words written on walls, chair, floor and almost every object present in there, those words are like a conversation with self and the struggle to speak/ pronounce words perfectly.” The use of black and white color combination and the theatrical lighting creates an ambiance of traveling back or peeping into the past which is brilliantly executed. She is expanding the boundaries of woodcut printing and creating new possibilities around it.

    'Existence 1' by Ruma Choudhury | Organic Pulp, Natural Fiber and Found Objects
    'Village Life' by Intaz Ansari | Organic Fiber

    Ruma Choudhury elevates the process of papermaking to a different level of aesthetic magnitude. She creates her paper from fibers found in nature and constructs the paper into an abstract structure resonating with childhood memories. Her work generates a space for the viewer to explore the fusion of different fibers and the impressions of her own body while creating the surface. From a distance her work may provide a semi-abstract visual, but as you come closer to the piece you tend to discover textures, grains and patterns that we can easily relate to objects around us or their memories.

    Intaz Ansari’s piece is a response to the rapid change he has observed around his immediate environment. He also explores paper making as his surfaces are infused with images from his surroundings that transform into outdated objects. The effect of industrialization on villages and small cities and how it transforms the landscape is what concerns his work.

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    About the author:

     

    Born in Cuttack, Odisha, in 1992, I am currently an artist based in Kolkata and Santiniketan.
    I earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree with 1st class 1st distinction in Painting from Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University in the years 2015 and 2017 respectively.
    I have received scholarships and awards for my studies and work, including a National Scholarship in painting from 2016-18 and a YOU Scholarship from Telegraph, as well as the Orissa State Award for New Media from Prafulla Dhanuka Art Foundation in 2019.
     
    Over the last few years, my work has been exhibited in numerous national and international shows and several articles have been published in: Art as a Catalyst, for the Barbil Art Project-III in Art and Deal Magazine (May 2018), A Melange of Narratives, for the show ‘Inward Vision’, also in Art and Deal Magazine.
    Most recently, I was selected as one of the four resident artists for the Piramal Art Residency (2019-20), cycle 24, Visualizing the text.

     

     

     

     

    Scroll down to see all the works in the exhibition:

     

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