Artist’s Statement

Artist’s Statement, 2007

Current themes: Identity formation, loss and geo-cultural dislocations. While the nature of my practice has been largely sculptural, since 1999 I have developed a strong body of multimedia works on paper. Driven by my understanding of the female condition and the manifestations of injustice in patriarchy, issues of women’s social and sexual conditioning have formed the foundation of my practice. My current body of work utilizes digital technology in the creation of self-referential constructed images. Cruciare (2006) recently exhibited at the Art Gallery of Hamilton is one example – a work in which as both creator and object of the image, I excise the male gaze and reclaim female sexual desire. Additionally, the impact of the multiple uprootings and relocations to which I was subjected during the first half of my life has led me to examine the formation of identity and the immigrant experience of loss and displacement. Residency in several countries and fluency in five languages instils my work with a visual vocabulary derived from the emblematic rituals of Catholicism.

In Mexican Suite (2006) I draw upon a substantial personal archive of photographs and correspondence to construct images that are both ruminations on the past and testaments to the physicality of aging.

The Identities series (2007) of digital collages further develops this by utilizing old passport and ID photographs along with the text of a Catholic litany I chanted as a child. Objects in the Identities works serve as metaphors for the occupations I had in various cities and countries, such as music student, seamstress, nanny, secretary, housewife, art student, etc.

Language is integral to other recent work such as February 1949, 2005-2007, which features 24 digitally altered photos accompanied by a recorded soundscape. The images consist of a series of trees along the shores of the Danube enveloped in fog, which gradually evolve into densely layered abstractions. The accompanying soundscape also suggests an evolving personal journey and uses oral recordings in five languages along with sound effects representative of the historical period of WW II, the Nazi invasion and the Soviet occupation of Hungary. Variations and inversions on my favourite piano piece of that period (the First Movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata) are used to express the discord and fragmentation of my journey. The relationship between the audio and visual components merges to create an ultra space that allows for a deeper reading.

Artist’s Statement, 2008

Throughout the past thirty years my practice has examined female identity within patriarchy, in particular under the repressive influence of the Roman Catholic Church in which I was raised.  Additionally, the impact of the multiple uprootings and relocations to which I was subjected during the first half of my life has led me to examine the formation of identity and the immigrant experience of loss and displacement.  While these issues have remained central to my practice over the years, the media in which I have worked have evolved from primarily three- dimensional to multimedia works on paper and the digital photography of several recent series.  During the first twenty years of my practice I produced serial works in steel and several room sized installations in multimedia that included soundscapes, but since 1999, I have developed a strong body of mixed media works on paper.  Driven by my understanding of the female condition and the manifestations of injustice in patriarchy, issues of women’s social and sexual conditioning have formed the foundation of my practice.

My current body of work draws upon a substantial personal archive and utilizes digital technology in the creation of self-referential constructed images.  The Identities series (2007) of digital collages is informed by my ongoing displacement and residency in several countries, and incorporates old passport and ID photographs along with the text of a Catholic litany I chanted as a child.  Objects in the Identities works serve as metaphors for the occupations I had in various cities and countries, such as music student, seamstress, nanny, secretary, art student, housewife, and finally artist. These iconic visual references are underpinned by liturgical text in reference to the continued observance of Catholicism in my youth, the one constant I experienced in the various countries and cultures in which I lived.