– Sleeper In Metropolis –
“Sleeper In Metropolis” is our 3rd virtual exhibition curated by Siilk Gallery. Something that regardless of the pandemic we have decided to continue doing on a regular basis, bringing audiences and artists together digitally, online, to help promote and expand the exposure of artists works we love from around the globe.
In light of all the recent happenings in the world, Sleeper in Metropolis, the title of a song by the 80’s artist Anne Clark seemed more than fitting. A track about being present but not active throughout changes that are out of peoples control.
A dystopian future is being spoken about here. “The cracks” – a space that is within our understanding but distantly out of reach to do anything about.
Something we are aware of and can act out against but time keeps on going without any real change.
In the ecstasy of consumption, consumerism and paranoia we try to keep on looking through that Crack in the System, thinking, wishing something can or could be done.
Through their sleep, hypersensitive individuals have been turned on to the essentials of life, back to basics, looking inwards, looking towards their surroundings. “Beauty warriors”.
They give birth to inner eternal gardens, limbos and sounds, stratified in relating to the big city life but always keeping in line with their own reality and magical factors of the dogmas in which they’ve not ceased to believe in.
The intimate places of unrest become political and through their cameras as eyes we’re approaching a new way of seeing the most hidden face of the Metropolis.
Curated by Daniel Peace & Nicole Oike.
Turn on, tune in, drop out. Siilk.
Works featured by:
Artist Interviews:
How did this year change your perceptions?
This past year I was able to slow down and use my energy to think about what I felt and what I wanted. I think it changed the way I think about myself and how I relate to both my direct and online surroundings. After running around for so long seeing myself through the eyes of others, trying to fit an impossible lifestyle and an impossible image – I finally got to meet myself. It might sound cliche but having a better understanding of who I am has given me more space to be interested in others and research the things I’m fascinated by without wondering whether that would fit with my persona or style.
What did it teach you the most?
I think humanising myself has been a big thing for me. It’s not just for yourself but also those around you – it creates so much more space for honesty and empathy.
What does your Identity mean to you?
Identity means expression to me. I guess as a creative working with image and especially photography it’s not a surprise that I am inspired mostly by those who wear their identity on their sleeves – express it with their bodies. I’m naturally drawn to people who aren’t afraid to show themselves.
What about the sleep of reason? What about dreaming?
It’s the chaos that I love and hate. I’m at my most creative when I find it hard to control my emotions – I can remember all my dreams and the zone I get in is both beautiful and dangerous. It’s part of my fascination with the sublime and Greek tragedy – and artists such as Hans Bellmer, Louise Bourgeois and Miriam Cahn. The tortured, the darkness – I think it’s sunk into my work.
What makes you angry in this period?
Lobby Lgbt and sometimes my mother
What are you working on at the moment?
The last covid year was a strange experience for all, me included. I tried to be active, but under these conditions i didn’t photograph people at all as i used to do in the past. I focused on landscape, dead nature, architecture etc. and some new work has started to take shape, but needs more time to shoot & edit to tie it up with previous draft work and bring old & new thoughts together. It might end up in a book or it might not, nothing sure yet.
On which thoughts and feelings would you like to work now?
My blurry ideas are always floating on thoughts over life & death. So everything i might conceive is dealing with them, under feelings that sometimes balance on the one side, sometimes on the other.
Is there anything obsessing and creatively haunting you in these times?
Some of previous phases of my life and even some old selves, that I still haven’t properly dealt with.
What does vulnerability mean to you?
Admit one’s own vulnerability, means being honest. We all have it, while some people pretend that they don’t have.
What is your photography exploring, underneath everything?
Most of times, my works explore the distances between me and the world, and other human beings.
Why should we all be open to change?
I think change is important. Good or bad, I believe the experiences that come with change can help you figure out more about yourself and what you may or may not like.
What kind of relationship do you have with your art and with your eye?
I get motivated by the things that are around me. So I guess it goes hand in hand with my art. My art is a result of that. Places, people, things that I find or that make me feel something— enough to inspire me to create.
What are we gonna do to wake up?
I think this circles back to change. To wake up we must be open to what’s to come, and to stick together. To wake up we must have an understanding of each other and what is needed and wanted.
How does your work comment on current social or political issues?
My works are undoubtebly influenced by social and political issues considering that I am part of society. But when I am taking pictures ,I am not interested in ordinary events ,what I am looking for are the emotions that I feel by the things that are happening around me.
What themes are you pursuing in these times?
There was a period when I thought I had made progress after I started Photography and during this period I focused on certain themes and produced some works as well. But later on I realized that I can be much more creative when I concentrate on the photograph itself rather than the idea. Now I am only focused on producing, I proceed b
Tell us something about your method, approach on things and way of creating.
There’s this theory called conformal cyclic cosmology that basically states that the big bang wasn’t a single initial event, but a constant state of the universe, like a beating heart. Meaning roughly every one billion year, there’s a big bang and the whole universe goes trough another full cycle again; and this duration is called an aeon. So I basically designed this video series as an ongoing process with no beginning and no end, that follows me trough my travels and explorations and simply manifests visually once enough visual material is gathered. To me it’s a channeling tool allowing me to give a visual interpretation of energies, ghosts, and spirits around us, while looking for remnants of violence, industrial consumptions and destruction.
How real is reality?
There is a physical world about which we know very little, and then there’s the idea of reality, which is completely subjective and doesn’t exist outside of the self. Some of us are lucky enough to be able decide what to do with it, a majority of others have to fight trough it everyday for survival. Reality is an unforgiving spectrum.
What’s your main goal right now?
Main goal is always to keep refining my process trough the range of mediums I’m working with – visual, sound design, jewelry, installations .. And extend my range of action. Concerning Aeon, the idea is to turn it into a feature film. This serie is basically laying the foundation of what I want to achieve trough a full length movie, as well as acting as one very long location scout.
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