LandE scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Cynthia Brannvall
Lives and works in
An artist ' s statement
T
he conceptual themes that run through out my work have to do with identity and landscape. I am interested in identity formation in relation to that of the individual and that of the collective – meaning the identity of a community or a culture or a nation. I connect ideas of identity with the landscape in the sense of a terrain. I understand landscape to be a terrain that can be geographical but also a terrain that can be about memory or nostalgia, or a terrain that is historical. This informs my research as an Art Historian and the visual language I develop in my art practice.
I understand culture and identity to be complex, political, and often-contested ideas. I think a lot about the nature and location of culture and how it informs and produces identity. Where does culture reside? Is it contained within a geographical space or does it exist in people? Is it something that crosses time and space? Is it inherited? Is it a habit or is it a choice? Is culture something remembered or is it something that can be claimed? Is it something we can choose to embrace or deny? How is culture connected to art, national identity, and capital? I identify with multiple sites of belonging as opposed to any particular one. I am intrigued by hybridity, inbetween spaces and underrepresented perspectives as a means and site of knowledge and alternative histories that are more inclusive.
My art practice is varied in expression, but an interest in process and materials are consistent. I engage with patterns and materials as signifiers. I like to use materials that have a historical fingerprint to make an unexpected contemporary statement. The abstract textile collages I make are composed of stained and heavily worn vintage lace, seams, trim, ruffles and bindings structured in a grid form. For me, these pieces hold a comfortable tension between painting and sculpture and fine art and craft. I like to think about the abstract patterns in the material as protein folds of DNA that cross bodies of water and continents, and cross the bodies of ancestors. I intend the textile patterns to evoke text, music, history, and the presence and work of women. My choice to use porcelain introduces a material and conceptual tension between that which is precious and fragmented.
Cynthia Brannvall
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