Video Animation on Embroidered Tapestry, 2013

The video installation entitled Can you feel the love tonight?  explores matter, energy, mind and spirit and their interplay immersed in the experience of the ephemeral. It takes a poignant look at the body as a vessel, and how disease can slowly decay the tangible and in turn release the intangible. The video brings together a series of long- term emotional and physical fragments experienced by the artist and her ailing mother.

The moment in the video that represents her mother’s last breath, the figure breaks down into molecular bits becoming one with the atmosphere, nature’s way of giving back life to earth. The figure however slowly regenerates representing the infinite nature of energy. It also explores the concept that when something dies, it gives new life to another. This is something that has been at the forefront of the artist’s mind especially since she gave birth to a daughter one year ago. 

The video animation projects onto a tapestry with an embroidered vessel on it. Oremus often uses embroidery in her work as her mother was fond of the craft, and embroidered things for the artist throughout her lifetime. The representation of the vessel highlights not only her mother’s immigration by ship to Canada from Germany, but also acts as a metaphor for her current journey into another plane of existence. The fabric creates a symbolic border between our world and the afterlife. The imposing shadow that is cast on the back wall represents her mother as the spiritual traveller, leaving her physical body into an astral one, traveling toward more significant realms.

It was the artist’s intention to abstract the statement: and there once was– through the use of fragmented Arabic text. She uses the Arabic alphabet, but in a deconstructed manner, and in a manner thus reflecting the English language so that its interpretation would be virtually intelligible for a native Arabic speaker. This action conveys the idea of finding value in something that is difficult or impossible to completely understand. Living in the UAE for 11 years, the artist recognizes the beauty of Arabic texts, while not comprehending what they mean. The artist draws parallels with her mothers’ loss of writing and language skills and the Arabic text, as she herself finds value in the beauty of the text as an object (signifier), but cannot fully understand what it means (signified), similar to the letters she received from her mother and the conversations she had with her during her illness.

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 Curator’s Statement:

Karen Oremus, Assistant Dean, Department of Art and Design, Zayed University, UAE
Catherine Bebout, Associate Professor and Head of Printmaking, Paper & Book Arts, Montclair State University, USA

Maps have been an integral part of weaving a narrative amid the history of human exploration, development, and technology. As systems of organization, they not only function to calculate distance and geographical boundaries, but also to depict a record of histories both real and imagined. Mapmaking was a consequence our desire for information fueling on the one hand consumption, while on the other, satisfying needs for power and discovery through the conquering distant lands. Through illustrations tucked within the marginalia areas of maps, the early cartographer’s revealed a multitude of perceptions that impacted not only cultural attitudes of the times but created stereotypes that still persist today.

As curators, these ideas presented conceptually fertile ground not only for the topic but also works selected for this exhibition titled, “Cartographies: Mapping Intersections & Counterpoints.” The images chosen are intended to deepen the viewer’s experience as well as open perceptions to allow for the discussion regarding displacement, religion, politics, and cultural attitudes.

In the video projection series titled, “Currents,” Janet Bellotto overlays ancient maps of Mexico City with dust travels in a room and overlaid with sound of the infamous poet Sister Juana, who traces the space in a visual language. Documenting thousands of hours photocopying microfilm and downloading headlines from the Internet, A. J. Bocchino’s reproduces charts that allude to our collective memory and how it shapes cultural identities. The artists Catherine Bebout, Alicia Candiani, and Deborah Cornell visually discern the connection of mapping to the human body from multiple perspectives. In Bebout’s work, sacred charts, diagrams, patterns in nature and science are investigated to reveal connections between evolution and the universal rhythms of life. Candiani juxtaposes the politics of the female body with the social roles or cultural expectations of Latina women. Deborah Cornell’s work is motivated by the grandeur and questions of science and how the exactness of living forms is currently being transformed through research and genetics. The pixelated maps of Banu Colak enable the viewer to deconstruct concepts of home versus transnational communities and through a multi-layered reading, encompass the political issues within.

Recurring questions for artist Paul Coldwell is how new technologies impact and manipulate space and scale relationships. In relation to the small personal artifacts or objects selected for the series, ‘Case Studies’ he uses mapping devices like trace points to connect image to landscape. In the mixed media work of Todd DeVriese, the artist addresses the challenges of history, mythologies, culture and social issues and is an investigation of how historical events have shaped the present apart from arrive at new sets of understandings. Matthew Dols describes his work a “sense of place” and infinitely more than a representation of facts and figures as it spans time, memory, and emotions.

Kip Deeds “Alasktic” print series take the viewer on a journey from Mexico to Alaska through the eyes of this Philadelphian artist. The “Alasktic” project was inspired by Utagawa Hiroshige’s 1834 print series, “53 Stations on the Tokaido,” which depicts scenes along the famous eastern sea road in Japan and stylistically borrows from other depictions of travel in the United States.  The concept of journey is also employed in the “Emerging Cartographies” imagery of Alison Hildreth. These series are visual maps of investigations through divided cities, natural and manmade terrains and are inspired as much by reading as an empirical observation of the landscape. In “The Map Room,” Lori Nix photographic images and videos are constructed from tiny dioramas she builds to depict dystopian worlds. The conversation in Naz Shahrokh’s “Artist Palette Series,” concerns the process of making objects through collected parts; both in the active collection of materials throughout the journeys and travels, as well as seeking particular materials to convey a personal meaning of a place and time. Incorporating various media, Marco Sosa merges physical and ephemeral- intersecting realities separated by time and space in his projection installation titled, Mapping Non-accidental Intersections. Karen Oremus’s work utilizes map imagery to signify ‘place’ and ‘distance’, demonstrating both the physical and mental distance between herself and mother who struggled for several years with Alzheimer’s disease.

Living in today’s increasingly global society, our existence is often being defined as hyphenated identities as well as a sense of displacement. Just as countries continuously reinforce or reshape their national and international images, so do artists who struggle with their own identities in our changing, shrinking world. Akin to the early cartographers, this exhibition addresses the fluid nature of maps as pictorial bridges or crossing points emerging from a manifold of associative viewpoints and conceptual ideas. The intent is to present our viewers with a collaborative atlas of metaphoric associations and discovery through each of the artists represented.

I also completed two installations at Zero Strasse, a massive underground bunker spanning the city of Pula, Croatia. The space which was just opened to the public for tourism two years ago, is under the direction of the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Maritime Museum of Istria. The installation occurred in conjunction with the 60th Pula Film Festival.

One installation consisted of an animated projection created in After Effects, complete with sound, onto a tapestry that had been drawn onto. The other was a projected series of photographs that were merged into one another using iMovie, cast onto a wire frame which in turn created a continuous jail like projection throughout the tunnel. Built in the 1800’s, Zero Strasse, is literally an underground city carved into the stone which was used as a massive bunker by the citizens of Pula during the wars.  The space has main streets with numerous adjoining alleys and paths like a complicated labyrinth- completed with benches carved from the stone where the citizens would sit, and wait for the bombing to discontinue.

In June/ July 2013 I had a series of exhibitions in underground bunkers in two locations in Croatia. One took place in a bunker at the secluded military base in Stubička Slatina Croatia, and the other in the open to public bunker, Zero Strasse, in Pula, Croatia. My desire to work within an underground space is twofold. Having studied and worked as an archaeologist, I often make reference to history and artifacts in my work, which act as a metaphor symbolizing transience and fragility.

I am obsessed with the preservation of memory, especially during the decline of my mother’s memory due to Alzheimer’s disease, and even more so since her death. The idea of preservation of life is also something that resonates with the bunker. This experience is heightened as I am of Croatian Heritage, and many of my family members spent time in bunkers during World War II and in the recent war.

Bunker: Stubička Slatina Military base, Croatia

I completed one installation at the Stubička Slatina Military base outside of Zagreb. The space is currently used and owned by the Croatian fire fighters Association, but was originally used by the Yugoslav army from 1968.

The installation consists of over 60 ammunition trunks stacked strategically in the bunker with the spread of empty shells throughout the room. Audio was playing and still and animated imagery projected into the trunks.

The woodcut is the most ancient of all forms of expression in printmaking. Its early beginnings are found in China and Egypt as wooden stamps designed to make symbolic or decorative impressions on clay and wax. With the development of paper in China in the second century AD, stamping blocks evolved into wood blocks printed onto paper. Woodblock printing came to Japan in the 6^th century AD in the wake of Buddhism, and acted as a way to deliver a religious message. In the 17^th century the Japanese were using woodblock also for artistic expression, and this art form still maintains a prominent position for contemporary Japanese artists.

The woodcut in western art evolved as a later expansion of the utilitarian printing of textiles from wood blocks in the early 14th century. Though paper from the east was known in Spain in the 11th century, it was not until paper was produced in large quantities in France, Italy, and Germany in the 14th century that woodcut printing began to unfold. In southern Germany, woodcuts were used to promote religion, in the form of pamphlets and post cards, and were also produced to sew into people’s clothing to protect them as good luck charms.

With the invention of printing from movable type in the mid-15th century, woodcut began to appear in more highly developed forms as illustrations for books. By the late 15th century the great artists of the time, Durer and Hans Holbein in Germany, Lucas von Leyden in the Netherlands, and Titian in Italy were using this new medium with great eloquence.

In the age of technology, we have access to numerous art making tools that can be viewed and disseminated both through print and through screen. Small editions of 100 woodcut prints are now replaced by commercial printing, which can now be disseminated across the globe to billions. That being said, artists today continue to use the ancient art of woodblock printing as a mode of artistic expression.

The artists of this project delved into the ancient technique of woodcut printing using state of the art laser cut technology, while exploring the theme of ancient techniques and traditional technologies of the UAE and the Arab World. Items investigated include but are not limited to: Traditional Architecture (coral, wind towers, mud brick like the Al Bidiya Mosque); Dhow Boat construction; Traditional Gargour Fishing Traps; Irrigation and farming techniques; Craft of weapons and tools; traditional medicine; and ancient rites and traditions. The collection of works has come together in the form of a book illustrating each artist’s interpretation of the project.

ARTISTS

COORDINATOR
Karen Oremus, Associate Professor
College of Arts and Creative Enterprises

Project 1: Advanced Intaglio – Solar Plate Printing and the laser cutter

Tangible and Intangible forms of Adornment as Expressions of Emirati Identity

An Adornment is generally an accessory or ornament worn to enhance beauty or status of the wearer. They are often worn to embellish, enhance, or distinguish the wearer, and to define cultural, social, or religious status within a specific community or group.

Adornments can extend beyond accessories that embellish the human. They can also be accessories that adorn one’s pets, livestock, the dinner table, or elements of one’s home. Adornments can be tangible (perceptible by touch and sight for example with such items as family heirlooms; henna; clothing; costumes; jewellery and accessories; badges; uniforms; headdress; etc.) or intangible (incapable of being perceived by the sense of touch, but through other senses such as smell with items such as perfume or oils).

In this project students are to explore their personal histories through tangible and intangible forms of adornment as expressions of Emirati identity. They are to explore their own personal history through objects in their family’s homes, archives, photographs, letters, artefacts, stories and memories that relate to the topic of Adornment.

Students are to collect visuals for the work and are to assemble them into a compelling layered composition telling their story. Images should be high resolution, and collected through primary sources (scanning/ photography). Students should integrate text with the visuals to provide more information to the viewer. The imagery should be collaged in layers keeping in mind the creation of these works will unfold in a two-step process. Your primary imagery will be transferred to a solar etching plate and printed on fine art paper. The print will then have a secondary layer (which could be the text, patterns or another visual element), which will be laser cut from the image creating a negative or laser engraved removing previous elements.