Must be fearless and free. Open Sabine Werner’s solo exhibition Women’s Monster / Day

Riga Gallery Sprout From March 29 to April 26, Sabine Vernere’s solo exhibition A woman’s monsterin which the artist studies the meaning of the image highlighted in the narratives of Western culture and psychoanalysis. Sabine Werner focuses on what is truly fascinated by her in her creative work and tries to understand what tools to develop artistic research on these issues. For a long time, she has a close woman’s sexuality, which the author has previously addressed through nature, geopolitical history and self as a female artist. « At the moment, I am interested in intolerance to a woman’s sexuality. To find her roots, I realized that I had to throw a bridge for a three thousand years past, when there was an ancient Greek culture, which is at the foundations of our western perception and cultural canon – democracy, justice, art, architecture, literature and other areas. »

Jellyfish, pandora and sirens

« When trying to understand what I see around me, and studying ancient Greek myths as universal patterns who have not lost their relevance to the present day, I quickly felt injustice to women’s images: they almost never have an active character, but positioned mothers, sisters, wives or monsters. She has conducted her research in the professional doctoral studies of the Latvian Academy of Arts, the artistic expression of which is the exhibition of the exhibition A woman’s monster. The artist draws attention to the fact that many artists and thinkers have used ancient Greek myths to deal with them – from the Italian genius Michelangelo to Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Gustav Jung.

Sabine Werner is exploring important issues for her important questions, using three female monster characters – jellyfish, pandora and sirens – to find and show contemporary in their stories, who also talk about today’s problems. Jellyfish, one of three sisters in the Gorgons, are raped in the temple of Athens, the goddess of the sea, but the punishment is not the abuser, but the jellyfish itself: her hair is turned into snakes, but a gaze in a deadly weapon. « A woman’s monsters arise as a result of such violence, and everything these powerful and beautiful beings continue to do after survival or regain self -determination frightens the patriarchate.

Sexuality and strength

Zeus and Danaya’s son Perseus cuts his head to the jellyfish, and it becomes an apotropic sign that is still used as a sign of protection. « You take fear in your hands, look into them and turn them towards your opponents. In a way, talking about the topic of sexuality in artistic practice is how to find your apotropic sign – an image that confronts an incomprehensible, accused glance who demonbs a woman’s sexuality and strength, » emphasizes Sabine Vernere. in studies.

In her research process, the artist has looked at the interpretations of myths through the times they have changed and developed, as it is known as the myth is told more about the narrator than the myth himself. « A man is the only living being who needs a story to convey information, knowledge and understanding of things. If you track the thousands of men to tell other men about a woman’s sexuality, you come to a point where you are not your body and essence. The artist admits that she herself has missed the women of these active heroes to look at and inspire. « While studying in Rozentals, I did not think that as a woman artist could create large and bold solo exhibitions in large spaces, because I simply did not see such examples in Latvia, » she explains.

Marble fragments

Sabine Werner has chosen egg tempera paintings on paper, marble and ceramics as her own means of expression. « I have worked with mascara in the past, which was my only expression for a long time, but I focused on the most archaic methods in this research process. I paint with an egg -tempered egg, which is associated with the origins of painting, » says the artist. In front of the fragile paperwork, she has used the temporary marble used in ancient Greece in the formation of sculptures and various architectural details. Sabine Werner has gone to marble processing sites. « There are always stacks of remnants that have been abandoned at these places, because the robot’s hand is no longer able to handle them. I shivered around them and searched for marble fragments that visually speak to me. With these marble lefts, Sabine Vernere has gone to the stone Gunta Pandara, who caressed them to the frames of her works and helped create sculptural objects in which the scars of the robot’s hands play the touch of the human hand.

The third material is clay, where pottery works keep references to the skills and history of ancient Greek craftsmen. « After a study on the Archaeological Museums of Greece, I felt so inspired that I went to Kuldiga at Kuldiga at the ceramic master Nania Linde right after my return and died for a week in the clay dish -building process to create objects as a tribute to the Pandora dish, » the artist remembers. It was a clay dish (pithos), used for storing wine, oil, grain and other products. On the other hand, the Pandora vessel became a false translation as a Pandora chest, which still denotes an unpredictable source of consequences. In ancient Greek mythology, Pandora is the first woman. « The beautiful evil known in Greek kalon kakon. Zeus commands it to create irresistible and sends it to the earth as a punishment for mankind to release all evil from the vase given to him, adding that men will not be able to live with him or her without her. Why not be mealy in the ancient Greek society if such is the image of the first woman, « Sabine Vernere asks rhetorically.

Tell your stories!

The artist has traveled through the Greek museums and spent three months at the residence Quote In Paris. In the Louvre, she has studied ancient Greece artifacts to delve into her image and visual language. « I am delighted that next to the colonization maps in Greek archaeological museums, the corners of women appear, » Sabine Vernere tells about the impact of the feminist view not only on the interpretation of the ancient Greek myths. « In my opinion, the funeral of the famous Pericles explains exactly why there are so few stories about women. He turned to men and called for them to be as heroic as the predecessors, but the women were unnoticed. The best thing will be that no one will talk about – neither good nor bad, » says the artist.

Sabine Werner adds that there is currently a need for telling unprecedented stories, for example, the amazons mentioned in the ancient Greek myths, which, according to the latest studies of bioarheology, have been real women. « These examples have to be pulled out of oblivion and tell today, how the laughter of jellyfish in your essay expresses the laughter of the elen: women, tell your stories, if you don’t tell them, no one will ever know about them! » Emphasizes Sabine Werner.

Sabine Werner
Exhibition A woman’s monster

In the gallery Sprout 29.III -26.IV