11 STEPS by Magdalena Jasiak

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The creation of Jasiak’s work is a lengthy process that originates in an attempt to deal with the reality surrounding the artist. The process is often very overwhelming to Jasiak and at times she feels like it's beyond her reach.
Jasiak’s chosen form of expressing herself is installation. She feels that this medium as an artistic tool gives her the most freedom and ways to convey her message. Jasiak values this freedom not only as an artist but it is very personal to her too. The desire to communicate through installation comes from within; a deep need to combine space, time and reality. The long process of creation gives Jasiak this opportunity. Through it she can focus on the problem or memory that she’s trying to deal with and manifest through art.

Artwork 11 STEPS is a reflection of the year 2020. Jasiak is trying to tell the story of a girl, artist, mother, woman. A story of pain at being imprisoned and cut off from everyday life; but also stories of returning to the routine and liberation from the emptiness. While working on this installation, Jasiak decided to wear the same clothes every time she’s in the studio. Every day she comes back home, she puts her ‘’uniform’’ into the washing machine, wash it and dry it. Make it ready for the next day. And so on until the end of the process.

These clothes became some kind of activate button that started the association process. The button that activates the person taken from the artist by 2020. The button activates a certain type of identity that Jasiak has lost a year ago. The button activates the artist herself.

During the VR Residency Pilot Jasiak made two black canvases. She hanged them exactly opposite each other. The image of one was reflected in the other, only 11 steps away from each other. 5 weeks long, a tiring process of associating them by sewing them together with only white thread. This gave Jasiak the opportunity to understand how important it is to connect with herself from 2020. Through this process Jasiak had a chance to realise that white thread is no longer only the symbol of her childhood but also a symbol of her journey through every empty day that brings her to the present.

The installation was streamed 24/7 via Stryx’s YouTube channel over the course of the week, allowing viewers to see what the artwork was doing whilst everyone was asleep. Viewers could also experience the installation via Oculus headsets supplied by the gallery.

Jasiak’s impression is that every person looking at this work will become associated with it. Associated with her, but also with each other. In one way, she feels connected to you, the audience. We are united by loneliness, separateness, seclusion, but also curiosity. We are all searching to feel something again, experience our life, again.


www.magdalenajasiak.com
@magdalena_jasiak
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