Liberation...

"Liberation", acrylic and collage on canvas, 150x100 cm

Details...

FAMILY PORTRAIT... the exhibition

This is a sereies of photography I took from my family album and intervened on, and finally exhibited in Prostor in February... Many thanks to everybody who was there for the opening night!

To see each photo check out my previous posts!
- http://vanja-trobic.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-works-emphasise-materialistic-nature.html

My first... solo show! - FAMILY PORTRAIT, Prostor, Zagreb

Dear friends and colleagues, fellow artists! / Dragi prijatelji i kolege umjetnici!

I am proud to announce

the opening night of my first solo exhibition

"Family portrait"

February 14th 2011 at 19:00

PROSTOR multiracionalnakompanija

Mesnička 5, Zagreb

Sa zadovoljstvom vas pozivam

na otvorenje svoje prve samostalne izložbe

"Obiteljski portret"

14, veljače 2011. u 19:00

PROSTOR multiracionalnakompanija

Mesnička 5, Zagreb

U svojem tekstu Camera Lucida, Barthes ističe kako fotografije, kao jedini materijalni tragovi nepovratne prošlosti, deriviraju svoju moć i svoju kulturološku važnost iz ukorijenjenosti u tradicionalnoj ulozi obitelji. Ipak, svjestan je kako u njima postoji nešto posve nepristupačno - poput nemogućnosti rekonstrukcije fizionomije ili navika referenata.

Funkcija koju je u procesu konstruiranja (vlastitog) identiteta preuzeo obiteljski album/portret, svjedoči o našoj vezanosti uz reprezentacijske forme i prihvaćanje kulturnih kodova. Može li fotografija doista funcionirati poput osobnog podsjetnika na bliske osobe? Je li zaista u stanju rekonstruirati našu predodžbu o ljudima te, ojačava li doista naše sjećanje na određene događaje ili naprosto dokazuje da su se oni zbili, nekada u osobnoj povijesti?

Vanjin čin intimnog „izlaska“ uobličenog kroz 50 osobnih memorija/obiteljskih portreta u javni prostor, pokazuje se upravo kao dekonstrukcija, ogoljavanje i poigravanje sa kulturnim kodom. Osobe, životinje i predmeti koji su u njenom životu bili nosioci individualnih sjećanja, identiteta, sada postaju akteri nove stvarnosti. Njihove poze, s druge strane, pripadaju mnogo univerzalnijoj retorici gesta, konvencija koje definiraju načine na koje je fotografija morala biti izvedena.

Koristeći obiteljske fotografije kao predloške za svojevrsnu vježbu iz prisjećanja, Vanja ih nanovo „fotografira“. Radi to gotovo doslovno, jer prelazi iz medija analogne fotografije, koju skenira i potom digitalno restrukturira. Manipulira njihovim licima, skrivajući im pogled ponajprije kroz točkasti raster („jer oči su ogledalo duše“). Upravo je pogled najvažniji segment kojim Vanja ovladava: pogled između kamere i subjekata; međusobni pogledi likova; pogled između promatrača i fotografije- sve je dovedeno u pitanje njenom jednostavnom intervencijom. Brisanje identiteta tada postaje ona referentna točka, opipljivija od realnih likova. Identitet je ionako fluidan, neoznačen, manipulativan.

Riječ je o procesu kojim se ne preispituje samo koncept obitelji, već ustanovljeni obrasci reprezentacije. Stoga, Vanja svojim obiteljskim portetima daje novi okvir, ne onaj pozlaćeni, nego okvir vlastite interpretacije.

Petra Tomljanović

In his text Camera Lucida, Barthes says that photography, as the only material evidence of irreversible past, derives its power and its cultural importance by being deeply rooted in the traditional role of the family. However, he is aware that there is something in photography completely inaccessible - such as the inability of the reconstruction of the physiognomy and habits of referents.

Function which is in the process of constructing identity taken over by a family album / portrait, testifies about our attachment to representational forms and acceptance of cultural codes. Can photography function like a personal reminder of the loved ones? Is it really able to reconstruct our image of these people, does it really strengthen our memories of specific events or simply prove that they occurred, sometimes at personal history?

Vanja’s intimate act formed in series of 50 personal memories / family portraits, “going out” to public space, turns out just as deconstruction, stripping and playing with the cultural codes. People, animals and objects that were in her life were the carriers of individual memories, identities, are now becoming actors of a new reality. Their poses, on the other hand, belong to universal rhetoric gestures, conventions that define the ways in which the photography had to be performed.

Using family photos as templates for kind of remembering exercise, Vanja takes “photos” again. She does it almost literally, using the media of analog photos, which she then scannes and digitally restructures. She manipulates their faces, hiding their sights primarily through the grid point (“because the eyes are the mirror of the soul"). The sight is the most important segment: view between the camera and subjects; mutual views of the characters; sight between the observer and photos - all becomes questionable by this simple intervention. In this way, works get almost industrial texture, like the mass produced images. Deleting the identity then becomes a reference point, more tangible than real characters. Identity is fluid anyway, unmarked, manipulative.

It is a process that examines not only the concept of the family, but examines already established forms of representation. Therefore, Vanja provides a new framework for family portraits, not the golden one, but the framework of her own interpretations.

Petra Tomljanović

http://www.culturenet.hr/default.aspx?id=35432

http://www.multiracionalnakompanija.com/prostor.php#pocetak


Here are some photos of the opening night...