Skat uz šiem
izcilajiem kartona maketiem- četri gadi studijas Lielbritānijā ir bijušas
tā vērtas : )
“Muļķīši tirgo lētu ūdeni un atklāj simbiozi”
Manam gala
projektam ir divas daļas: 3 izgaismotas piramīdas ar lieliem lējējpodiem, kas
balancē to virsotnēs, un CNC routerēta ainava, no vairākām kārtām dažādu veidu
koku (valrieksts, sapele, ozols, priede), uz kuras izvietoti mazie lējējpodi ar
varā atlietām saknēm.
Atceros to dienu,
kad mamma atveda mājās zilo tējkannu. Es uz viņu skatījos un brīnījos. Domāju,
tas bija skaistākais objekts mūsmājā un vēl tik ļoti funkcionāls. Tas bija tāds
nemanāms pagrieziena punkts manā dzīves ritējumā. Kopš tās dienas tējkannām ir
bijis tāds īpašs status priekš manis. Arī šo projektu sāku ar tējkannas tēlu,
tomēr procesa gaitā abstraktēju tējkannas tēlu līdz tās pamatiem- lējējpodiem.
Vēlējos reprezentēt divas galvenās idejas- mazu ekoloģiskās pēdas nospiedumu ar
tādu nedaudz gaisīguma piegaršu, un sajūtu, ka tomēr esam arī piesaistīti pie
zemes. Lai kā svešumā esot ilgojos pēc rupjmaizes, kefīra un maniem mīļajiem
(ne tādā secībā ;) ), tomēr ir arī tāda jokaina “ilga”, kas ne uzzīmējama, ne
vārdos izsakāma. Par šo Ilgu prātojot tapa šis darbs. Tomēr šai ainavai
izmantoju Kornvolas ainavu (satelīta bilde pārtulkota caur 3D Max uz stl failu)
kā sava veida veltījumu arī tai vietai, kuras brīnišķīgā daba, krāsu palete un
radošā atmosfēra ir ļāvusi man izpausties. Izmantoju saknes (īstās iekš
piramīdām, un varā atlietās uz ainavas), lai reprezentētu šo saikni ar zemi.
Bet keramikas darbu noapaļotie “dibentiņi” ilustrē šo vieglo saskares punktu.
Visinteresantākais
process bija tieši pašās beigās, kad apkārt visi haosā gatavojās izstādei, es
ar Ludivico Einaudi “uz austiņām” spēlējāmies ar mazajiem lējējiem. Šurpu turpu
atpakaļ. Šo te, to tur. Kurp viņi dodas? Kāpēc paliek uz vietas? Vai “zaļā
partija” saplūst ar dabu, vai tieši pretēji- tādi Rietumnieki, kas to vien grib
kā “dabīgu” produktu, kas diemžēl parasti nav nemaz tik “dabīgs” kā iedomājamies?
Un tie baltie zvirbuļi, kas sākotnēji likās tā īsti tur nemaz neiederēsies,
tādi naivie, kas neprastu ne uguni iekurt, ne koku atpazīt, kļuva par maniem
garīgajiem līderiem : ) Tie sāka saknes dzīt un lielas domas domāt, un augšup
tiekties. Un tad tie korķi tiešām kļuva
par korķiem- mūsu pašu korķiem, ar ko bloķējam savas sajūtas, lai iekļautos
modernās dzīves “džungļu likumos”. Bet projekta utopiskā daļa atklājas
ieskatoties tiem lējējiem vēderos, kad uzzinam, ka visiem viņiem tā gaišā
glazūra iekšā.
Piramīdas savukārt izauga
no manām aizturētajām dusmītēm par cilvēku saimes iedomību, un plaši izplatīto
mītu, ka esam evolūcijas visbrīnišķīgākais sasniegums. Tādēļ tie lieli lējēji
tā grīļīgi cenšas tur noturēties. Bet vispār jau es ar viņiem beigās salīgu
mieru un tad arī viņi izdzina saknes.
Nincompoops Dealing Smartprice Water and Discovering Reciprocity
Every atom in this
body existed before organic life emerged 4,000 million years ago. Remember our
childhood as minerals, as lava, as rocks? We are the rocks dancing. Why do we
look down on them with such a condescending air? It is they that are the
immortal part of
us. /John Seed/
This body of work consists of two parts- three
large illuminated pyramids with ceramic vessels balancing on top, and a long
CNC routed wooden landscape with small ceramic pouring vessels and copper-cast
roots.
With this project I am exploring the concepts
of ecology and nature-culture divide. My starting point was a teapot, for its
rich cultural, political and social history as well as the philosophy of Teaism
and Taoism. I was abstracting the shape of the teapot to symbolize my two main
notions- the idea of being connected to the land, having a sense of place, and
the lightness of being - basically treading lightly on the land. I am using
roots as a metaphor for our connection to the land, while the pointy or rounded
bottom of the vessels illustrate the light point of touch. During the making
process I distilled the teapot shape to a pouring vessel. This allowed me more
creative freedom while keeping the symbolism of the teapot. The action of
pouring being a symbol for the rituals of everyday, finding the beauty in the
mundane.
After reading such authors as Suzie Gablik,
Christopher Manes, James Lovelock and others my ideas ranged from critical to
utopian. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to create the two different
displays.
Landscape
I situated the pouring vessels in a landscape
so it would allow me to play with the ideas of sense of place, our perception
of environment and most importantly the human relationship with nature. The
location for the topography is Cornwall, from Penryn towards Hayle. The depth
of the terrain has been altered, abstracting the forms of landscape and making
them universal. This brings together the idea of local and global- the
processes happening here could be anywhere, but they are here, but potentially
they are universal. By laminating four layers of wood (walnut, sapele, oak and
pine) I am representing the soil layers.
The pouring vessels outside this landscape
installation are very much functional objects with food-safe glazes and can be
used for a range of liquids. I think of these vessels with their noses and cork
heads as being anthropomorphic. To further emphasize this human quality as well
as allow them to merge with the landscape I distorted them in the specific time
in-between the wet and leatherhard stage. In terms of material and colour
choice, I used porcelain for its aesthetic quality as well as for its drying
rhythm. For this project I used two different glazes- a mossy green glaze and a
crystalline peach glaze. I was playing with the idea of a glaze standing as a
metaphor for a quality of some sorts. Initially the light ones came across to
me as being naïve, maybe the way a western person would not know its way in the
wilderness. Whereas the mossy glaze stood for reciprocity of our relationship
to the land- being shaped by it and shaping it. However, when arranging them on
the landscape this metaphor flipped around for me, and now I think of the mossy
ones as the modern people- the way we are so nature-obsessed. Everyone wants
the natural product, the natural effect. Yet the all-natural product is mostly
not as natural as we would like to think. So maybe even though in the “Green
party” and recycling their milk cartons, they are still stuck in their ways.
This way the cork came to represent the kind of block a lot of us have put to
the spiritual side of life that our ancestors embraced. Whereas the light pots became
the ones that are trying to find that spirituality in their lives and to find
their roots. Yet, all of them actually have the light glaze inside, its just a
matter of revealing it.
The process of arranging the pouring vessels
on the landscape is meditative and allows envisioning all sorts of narratives.
This is very gratifying, as I tend to get caught up in the technical side of
things, trying to achieve that consistency of line between the outside and
inside shape of the vessel, getting the spouts to pour just right, wedging the
bubbles out of reclaimed porcelain, getting a square stick to make a pyramid.
All these practical matters that need to be considered doesn’t allow much
headspace for contemplation along the way. Therefore it felt most rewarding to
be reflecting on the thoughts I have had through the project
Pyramids
The pyramid display came from my frustration
with our anthropocentric culture and human arrogance. The pyramid symbolizing
the pyramid of evolution, that some like to think we are at the apex of. The anthropocentric pouring vessels with the
pointy bottoms on the top of those pyramids illustrate my notion about the
absurdity of such an idea, creating a precarious, seemingly impossible act of balancing.
However, while developing the project I came
to the idea of reciprocity- the notion that our relationship with environment
is based on give-and-take symbiosis. It seems that Western people tend to take
more than give, yet I believe that a more honest relationship is possible.
Therefore the shadow of the roots projected on the sides of the pyramids
represent that even though naively imagining ourselves at the apex of
evolution, we are still rooted in nature, we are nature.
