unknown path
ink pen and thread on handmade paper, 7.4 x 431.60 cm, 2023
Unknown path consists of portraits of unknown people photographed on the streets a few years ago, unaware that they were being photographed. Each portrait was created by a continuous line, and all were stitched together at the eye level, proposing a threshold between the known and the unknown - it is possible to imagine who these people are, but it is necessary to get closer to try to slip into their intimacies. The work was thought of as another form of symbolic touch: bodies that cross the same paths that can leave marks on each other.
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unknown path at the ma fine art: drawing pop up exhibition @ camberwell college of arts, december 2023
process
“I realized that when I’m doing other people’s portraits, I tend to copy/repeat the face in the act of making it. Maybe it’s an unconscious desire to feel connected to them in some way.
To draw or sew unknown people, in a process that demands so much observation time, makes me start to recognize them as close to me in some way. Bodies that cross the same paths can leave marks on each other. Is this another form of (symbolical) touch?” (01.11.23)
This work started intuitively, more as a "play time" than a concrete project. I revisited old photographs I had on my personal archive, and started reflecting on those unknown people I crossed paths with. I thought it'd be interesting, visually, to create a grade of portraits made by a continuous line, to explore how the lines of each small piece of paper would relate to one another. I bought a block of craft paper already cut to a small size, because I was thinking about how focusing on the small has the ability to expand into something bigger and more noticeable - materially, formally and conceptually.
artist's journal, 2023
process, 2023
“Instead of a grade of mini portraits, why not a chain? Narrative-style. You not only have to walk closer to see the details, since it’s a small drawing, the body is also provoked to walk this line, just like the moment I met these people in the first place (walking, each one going to an opposite direction). Crossing lives and lines. Trying to reimagine these people’s lives, intimacies, stories. How to feel closer to the unknown?
The thread connects, but goes through the eyes. ‘Eyes are the portal to the soul’. By making it slightly hidden, it makes me less close to these people? Or maybe, because they’re unknown to me, I can’t easily access what’s behind. I can only imagine.
The tension on the thread while trying to put everyone together is a bit of a struggle. It pushes and pulls. I wonder what this can symbolize conceptually.” (10.11.23)
Displaying the work on the wall was a challenge, because of the tension mentioned above. Each peace of paper had to be placed separetely with a tape, so the work wouldn't fall. However, since they were all sewn together, I had to be careful so that the tension wouldn't make the thread rip. Unfortunately, it happened twice when we were setting up the exhibition. Luckily, it was barely noticeable. I need to restore the work on the damaged parts and think of better techniques to display it in the future. I accepted the mistake as part of the process, since it'll lead me to get more knowledge on how to display it properly.
process, 2023
In the last group critique, I felt content with the feedback about the work, since a lot of the comments that were being made connected directly to what I was aiming to reach with it. Some said that they're able to see themselves in the work, others said that the work is not 2D anymore - I was reaching a new dimension, an expanded one. It was also pointed out the light in the environment, and how it could be added as a new layer of my practice.
work displayed in the pop up show, 2023