WANN KOMMEN WIR AN?
Migration is the mass movement of people leaving their previous lives in their home countries and states. People migrate for different reasons: sometimes by choice, to get to know a new culture and to take up new professional opportunities, to find love, but sometimes also out of fear of wars or climate catastrophes. People fleeing serious problems such as war, the disastrous situation in the country, the poor ecology, the low level of development and the unsustainable economy are looking for a new home in the hope of a better and happier future.
But one way or another, a question and problem of integration in a new country and culture arises. When can one consider integration successful and confidently say that one has become part of a new society? What are the feelings of a foreigner who finds himself in a new environment?
On 23 January, an exhibition was opened at Green Hill Gallery that deals with the topic of immigration and the question of integration. The four artists in the exhibition offer different perspectives on the subject with their works. Kifan draws from memories, from moments with which many events from the past of his home country are connected. Maria and Oksana are inspired by the colours of nature. Working with different materials is a focal point in Thesea's work.
MARIIA LUTSAK
Artist Statement
Mariia Lutsak is a Ukrainian graphic artist who works with various printing techniques as well as watercolor and ink drawings.
Before the war, Mariia Lutsak was mainly inspired by her surroundings, especially nature, to create her works. For her monotypes, she uses flowers and herbs she has collected and dried herself, which she assembles into a composition, covers with paint and prints on paper. In her watercolor works, Mariia combines a masterful command of classical technique with modern, sometimes surrealist sensibility. An important place in the artist's work is occupied by her work with ink, though not in the usual form, but using a lot of water that allows the ink to flow freely - in doing so, Mariia seeks a certain balance between restraint and expression.
Currently, all of Mariia's works are reflections on the theme of war. Drawing on her own experiences and those of others, she talks about things like the loss of home, memories, the pain of loss, and the horrors of war.
Works exhibited:
"Ctrl+X Ctrl+V" (€500,00).
50 x 50 cm pencil, acrylic, watercolor
2022
The roots are an allegory for people who were forced to leave their homes and find themselves in the unknown, as if they were cut and pasted. Every day we think of our home, of our former life. Many do not know if they will return home, and if so, what will their home look like? Certainly not the same as before, and that is painful to realize.
THESEAS EFSTATHOPOULOS
Artist Statement
The printing technique Theseas works with is called Collagraphy. This is an additive technique that does not require an etching process. The materials used in this printing process Theseas' search for porous and contestable boundaries between living and non-living beings. The works presented at Green Hill Gallery are from serial
groups of works (We/It/Them, Encountering Becomings: first of at least two, and Communities of Compost) and were all influenced by migration politics and composting processes.
The images show moments of togetherness and moments of multiplication, moments of of debris and degradation. These motifs were created with acrylic-based binders, shellac and special fillers built up on the printing block. In addition, there was another technical aspect in the area of inking, namely viscose printing. Here it is possible, with a single multicolored print with a single printing pass. For this purpose, oil colors with different viscosities are applied simultaneously to a printing plate. The different viscosities result in that the colors do not mix on the print. The use of different viscosities also has to do with the fact that different structures form contact zones, which result in perforated layers and contestable borders. This technique requires a lot of research and an analytical approach, which Theseas pursues with great discipline. The compositions develop an amazing color power with very harmonious tones.
Theseas' practice in the etching workshop paralleled the artistic research on resilient and life-sustaining art events. Theseas interviewed and collaged specific projects that address collectivity, consensus, and interconnectedness. Theseas' book, which can be found in the exhibition, had the contradictory intention of understanding the paradigm of the rhizome and using it as a Scale to be used. Theses about permeability and accessibility, Theses about Others and Theses about Others were collaged and expanded. In this publication, Theseas has practiced "making-with," a process of listening and giving voice. It is an attempt to talk to others rather than writing about others. During the bookbinding process, Theseas' prints became the material background for this theoretical work.
Works exhibited:
Series We/It/They, collagraph on cotton, 225x375mm, 2020, V.E/2 (450,00 €).
Series We/It/They, collagraph on cotton, 390x630mm, 2020, V.E/2 (850,00€/550,00€)
Series Encountering Becomings (first of at least two), collagraph on cotton, 400x410mm, 2021, unique piece (1000,00 €)
Series Encountering Becomings (first of at least two), collagraph on cotton, 220x415mm, 2021, V.E/2 (550,00 €)
Series "Communities of Compost", collagraph on cotton, 810x1105 mm, 2022 V.E/3 (2.000,00 € with frame, 1.200,00 € without frame)
Series "Communities of Compost", collagraph on cotton, 550x750 mm, 2022 V.E/3 (1.200,00 € with frame, 800,00 € without frame)
[1] sobat-sobat is an Indonesian word meaning friends...Together with the participants they experience encounters, build bridges and discover new approaches. "
OKSANA METKA
Artist Statement
Inspired by the motifs of nature and moments from life, I turn to painting to share what I reflect on the canvas with the viewers: Observation, awareness, mindfulness.
Currently, I mainly use acrylic as a medium in my work. The flicker of colors, the details of shapes and shades interest me.
The series "Trees" is about the interplay of light and bare tree, the beauty of moving lines, the flickering of branches, especially in the evening, when the sky and the light of the city whisper to each other. At a time when everyone is waiting for the appearance of green leaves, I am fascinated by the branches, which with their intertwining form a dense web, in which birds hide.
Exhibited works:
Series "Trees"
2021 - until today
"Almost Night"
Acrylic, canvas on stretcher, 70*50, 2022 (350,00€)
"Night"
Acrylic, canvas on stretcher, 70*50, 2022 (350,00€)
"Memory"
Acrylic, canvas on stretcher, 70*50, 2022 (350,00€)
"In the evening"
Acrylic, canvas on stretcher, 70*50, 2021 (350,00€)
KIFAN ALKARJOUSLI
Artist Statement
The artist has been dealing with the theme of "memories" for a long time. He tries to awaken the memories that are anchored in our memory through symbols on his paintings.
For Kifan, home is not only the place or country where one is born, but a home is also what one feels and what you experience in everyday life. A child born in Germany has Germany as its home, even if his parents are foreigners and it speaks their language as its mother tongue. But because it lives and experiences here, grows up here, Germany becomes its home. Because our home is in our memory. We are always looking for something that makes us complete. Joy, love, fun, sorrow. Everything we experience becomes symbols in our brain. In his works, the artist tries to transfer these symbols into the real world. That is why he paints many details. He wants to awaken many of these symbols in people who look at his paintings. He wants them to discover what they experienced years ago and find the parts they had lost.
In his pictures, Kifan Alkarjousli has tried to capture his memories of what he experienced in Syria after 2011, but also the memories of friends, family and many people he does not know personally, but only through Facebook and other social media channels. You can see a lot of details in the pictures.
Some symbols are consciously repeated, others unconsciously. In all the pictures there is a white line, because the line is a symbol of the shroud. This line, this symbol connects us all together, no matter where we are in the world now.
Exhibited works:
"Embrace", oil on canvas 70x50cm (900€).
"The moon and the poppy", oil on canvas 50x70cm (900€)
"The siege", oil on canvas 50x70cm (900€)
