Chorus / in vain I will away
medium: c-type photographic print
size: full and half size editions are available
More information:
It began with Dante's Divine Comedy.. images of purgatory and hell... The treat of what could happen to one's senses, the inability to escape such a destiny.. a nightmare..
Fusili's painting of an incubus sitting on a sleeping woman, who writhes in nightmare fused with his poem of how in vain she wills away also influenced this project. As did Ciaroscurro painting and a now distant past in working in Physical theatre.
Serious concerns within this work are my long-term involvement in working with the body in unconventional ways; a conversation with classical painting; a keen interest in political - societal concerns developed from an engagement with folk tales, mythology and religious parables.
To me the work is politically informed, the value of being human, the ease with which humanity is lost, dehumanizing takes place all too easily, and normality is in state of flux in which loss of identity of another easily occurs un-noticed, un-objected. My personal fear is fed when I perceive the fragility of an individual in society but I live with an undercurrent of optimism with which I believe in the strength of the potentially same individuals.
Another political position of the work is its engagement with the female body searching for ways of claiming it as universally significant body not representative of female concerns but universally human concerns. Attempting to distance a female body from the; easily falling into narrow enclosures of; feminist discourse is generally a problematic endeavor, but I am searching for ways to speak about humanity without falling into league with a gender camp. Of course feminism is in this time of recession a concern of refreshed urgency.
This project is trying to address a universal aspect of timeless and also very contemporary human condition.
Be it the literary journey of Dante through purgatory and the circles of hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy or parallels in contemporary life, the ugly and the beauty of human experience and capability.
I don’t think I propose answers or fixed positions in my work, rather questions, observations, sometimes serious, at other times with elements of humor. I search and I always find more question which lead to further searches. I work at highest possible quality across a spectrum of mediums, incorporating drawing, film, photography, installation, light, ambience. I locate my practice in concerns rather than a particular medium.
If you have more questions about the work or if you are interested in the project for exhibition or purchase please contact me; birgitdeubner@gmx.net
Thank you to Kiwoun Shin for the photographs!!
