On Friday, 3rd of March 2023 at 18:00, A-Galerii will open two new exhibitions on our WINDOWS: Kaia Ansip’s BROKEN FORESTS and Egle Sitkauskaite’s MIGRATING IDENTITY. The exhibitions will stay open until April 23.
Kaia Ansip BROKEN FORESTS
BROKEN FORESTS tells a story about the before and after of a deadly wildfire in Pedrogão Grande eucalyptus plantation. It analyses the relation to land which seems to have started acting dangerously and unpredictably. The work is an answer to a trauma that comes from living on the Anthropocene post-apocalyptic landscape. It expresses worry, love and fear for a place which has been changed by eucalyptus plantations.
The works are casted into the first harvest of cork from Quercus Suber aka cork oak. Quercus Suber, unlike the introduced eucalyptus is native to Portugal and is one of the most resilient trees to the fire thanks to its bark. The hot melted metal puts the cork to yet another test.
Kaia Ansip is an Estonian jewellery artist who graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a master’s degree in jewelry and blacksmithing in 2022. In addition to her studies, Kaia Ansip has completed internships at ArCo art school in Lisbon and with jewellery artist Catarina Silva. Kaia Ansip has participated in exhibitions in Portugal, New Zealand and Estonia, including the Portalegre Biennale of Jewellery in Portugal; in the exhibition “Balance” at Kristie Debbs’ gallery and in the group exhibition “Phantasmagoria”. In a collaboration with Claudia Lepik and Ljubov Kedrina, Kaia Ansip has created the project “Domestic jewelry”, within which the artists shared photos of jewellery made from everyday objects on Instagram for 365 days.
Egle Sitkauskaite MIGRATING IDENTITY
Egle Sitkauskaite’s exhibition MIGRATING IDENTITY revolves around the feeling of belonging when moving from one place to another; longing for what is left behind, adapting to the new culture, new language and yet staying somewhere in between. Based on her personal history and stories of people with similar experiences, the exhibition reflects on the emotional core of the concept of home which is not something grounded in a particular place or person, but rather as something that is flexible, transportable and constantly changing.
Using a tree as a metaphor, the artist wants to capture the ideas of places and identity transformation through materiality. By bending the wood the artist draws a parallel to the human ability to adapt. In this new form of identity construction flexibility and solidity come together.
Egle Sitkauskaite comes from a background of textile and jewellery. She uses jewellery as a method: her objects are interactive, performative and strive to question traditional wearable adornments. Egle’s work revolves around her personal history, memories and the left behind traces of the materiality and its relation to places. These connections are the key subject explored in her work, which is poetic and atmospheric, inviting the audience to experience a spatial universe.