Fascinated by the red earth, I integrated it as a main element in a series when I was living in Brazil, being surrounded by it.
I developed my own technique, mixing it with water, glue and letting it dry. Each piece focuses on a specific emotion, sensation or reflexion and experiments on the sensoriality of the "skin".
2015 - "Memories of Abundance" - 80x100cm
Brazil was facing a major drought crisis when I was living there. The pearls inserted in the cracks represent the last water drops left of the flowing rivers. These pearls symbolize at the same time hope. Hope for an awareness, hope for a change, hope for restoring natural resources abundance..
“Do I change like a river,
Widening and deepening,
Eddying back on myself,
Bursting my banks sometimes
When there’s too much water,
Too much life in me,
And sometimes, dried up from lack of rain?
Will I allow people to damn me up and confine me to wall?
so that I flow only where they want?
Will I allow them to turn me into a canal
to use for their own purposes?
Or will I make sure I flow freely,
Coursing my way through the land
And ploughing a valley on my own?
“This is all: The pillow book of Cornelia Kenn”
2015 - "Memories of Fluidity" - 80x100cm
The artwork reproduces the sensorial cracked aspect of a drought, also an allegory for an emotional draught. Water doesn't flow naturally, the ressources are confined in bottles.
Do we make sure we flow freely, coursing our way through the lands? Or do we allow external conditions and people to dry us up and confine us?
2016 - "Virtual Reality" - 80x100cm
What is the materiality of digital data? Where does it go when one loses it? Earth on the contrary refers to tangible reality by excellence. In which reality do we choose to anchor?
2016 - "Duality" - 90x100cm
Red earth, natural pigments and recycled computer microchips
Is there a way out of duality? A place where matter and spirit would unite?
2016 - "Emotional roots" - 80x100cm
Red earth, clay, photography, plexiglass and natural pigments
Ode to Brazil tropical exuberant nature and impressive giant roots
Where do our emotional roots come from and how deep are they? From how many past generations are we influenced emotionally?
2016 - "The infinity of possibilities" - 90x100cm - Red earth, natural pigments and recycled computer microchips
"Our only limitations are the one we set up in our own mind"