Anna Konik, Transparency - still from the video, courtesy of the artist
Faraway, So Near features two video installationsby Konik, Transparency (2004) and In the same city, under the same sky (2012 onwards). This will be the first time both works have been shown together.
Transparency marks the beginning of Konik’s work in the field of video. It explores old age isolation and loneliness, introducing two women and two men who are nearing the end of their life. Through an intimate exchange with her characters, she shifts between the positions of the artist and the audience, thus creating an engaging environment.
Konik’s extensive project In the same city, under the same sky brings together the harrowing experiences and stories of women immigrants/ political refugees from Chechnya, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Iraq and various other places. Konik’s approach presents these stories as told by other women from other places, e.g. Sweden, Poland and Turkey, who happen to live in the same city as the immigrants but have no experience of war or social exclusion. Working in this way Konik highlights the complexities of how immigration experiences are shared, perceived and (mis-)understood in different geographical and social contexts. For the exhibition at Void Konik will be showing new works from the series, recorded in Istanbul.
The show’s curator Susanne Stich introduces Konik’s style:
The work is accessible, but not simplistic. […] Konik offers an elaborate experience that encourages both empathy & detachment. The scenarios are presented not solely to evoke sympathy towards others, or illuminate a plight, but to utilise and sculpt emotion, transcending the personal towards the universal. […] A subtle yet profound interaction is revealed in the encounters she facilitates. Beyond the gesture of social engagement, with those that have been excluded, the striking visual composition of the work leaves an impact that will accompany viewers beyond the political issues that this body of work penetrates.
Faraway, So Near
Void Gallery
Derry, Northern Ireland
Curated by Susanne Stich
28 January - 7 March 2014
The opening of the exhibition will be accompanied by artist talk.
Source: press release, ed. AM, 23.01.2013