'Green Thoughts' The Source of Resilience
Her first solo show in three years, artist Sabina Sallis's the "Source of Resilience" sees the New Bridge Project Space gallery transformed into her own magical cosmology; with upended trees, projections, drawings and film, her mythical world is mapped out in a series of works by hand, sound, light and motion.
Sallis is heavily influenced by nature which forms the subject matter of much of her work, but what at first appears familiar territory is not what it seems. Like the rabbit holes in Lewis Carrol's Wonderland there are many entry and exit points in her work and we are drawn in only to re-emerge elsewhere. For Sallis myth and story-telling are equally important. Underpinning this exhibition is her own creation myth: according to Sallis the origin of life on earth is resilience and her fictional narrative describing how this quality arrived on our planet bedrocks this show.
As you enter the gallery two large scale discs rotate back to back ("Unfolding Resolution, 2015"); one white, one black, the discs are covered in biomorphic ink drawings reminiscent of Francis Bacon's expressive figurative distortions; fragmented, dismembered, they evoke the three headed dog Cerberus guarding the doors to a spinning earth. The discs are a fitting portal into her show, both serious and playful, meditative and zen-like they set the scene for what unfolds.
Drawing is central to Sallis's art practice and her way of thinking. Here Sallis presents a series of ink drawings, "What the garden thinks, 2015". Like a Victorian botanist her mark making is precise, linear, almost forensic which gives her work an objective authenticity which belies what are in fact depictions of the fluid world of her imagination. There is a wonderful freedom about her drawings; hybrid biomorphic forms, like half remembered fragments from a biology lesson, merge, float and germinate in a fantasy bio-scape. They feel like excerpts from a long evolving journey.
Elsewhere drawings are illuminated in sculptural geometric light boxes. Here Sallis merges ink drawings and collage splicing together her imaginary world with photographs taken from nature. Fusion and interdepence are themes here but there is also a feeling of revelation and that Sallis is trying to represent a sort of immanence; we are all part of the same story, that imagination and creativity is ever present if sometimes out of view.
Also on show is her film "The Other We, 2015". Part anthropology, part eulogy, it explores a group of people, living and working off the land. Thoughtful and meditative the film draws you into the gentle rhythms of nature, seasons, harvest, of sowing and reaping. But just as in her light box drawings, Sallis splices the photos of the natural world with the drawings of her inner imagination, again in her film Sallis interweaves her different narratives. For what appears at first to be in part documentary, is framed in terms of her fictional narrative: set against voice-over accounts of bee keeping, permacultural practice and sustainable farming Sallis's origin myth is narrated; that in the beginning was a meteor collision bringing not just water to our planet but introducing as well an infectious agent. This fictional virus is the source of resilience, that necessary component of life which endures and enables, the building block from which all else follows. The bees and spiders in her film serve to remind us of this, that we are all architects of our living spaces, responding to our environments, we all create and innovate, we are all dynamically resilient.
Another revolving piece "Haptic Universe, 2015" is a rotating projection. Here a different origin myth is referenced. The biblical story of Adam and Eve is replaced with something more complex; for Sallis there are many responses to the apple. The projection consists of a revolving disc split screened into segments, each segment depicting a hand approaching an apple on a tree. Revealed as a slow dance of hands and fruit, each libidinal state is explored; of temptation, denial, negotiation, caution, accommodation and fulfilment. The movement is exquisitely slow and beautifully choreographed, the many responses explored, human desire on a personal level is evoked but set against the wider context of our relationship to our environment and ultimately to the earth. This is uplifting, we have choice, we don't have to fail or fall.
There is much that is playful and joyful in Sallis's work and ultimately our resilience is her manifesto. However, there are other images that permeate this show: it's difficult to look at the bee keeper's protective outerwear in her film without images of Ebola hovering in the back of our minds, or indeed to think of bees without thinking too of their mysterious demise, falling population and their fragility. The concept of an infectious agent in itself arouses fear. However in Sallis's myth this fictional virus is a positive force, it is uplifting, sustaining, creative. Nature's destructive power is intimated in her work, but not foregrounded. Rather nature's gifts, her abundance and her ability to provide the solution is celebrated. Cornucopian, multi-layered, all encompassing, ultimately hers is a relational aesthetic. Her work puts us in touch with a deeper truth, that beneath the tangible manifest world we are all rooted in resourcefulness, creativity and ultimately, or rather primordially, resilience.
By Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
Sabina Sallis Scislowicz’s multimedia messages about multiplying
uniqueness.
Sweet tasting carbon particles. On the journeys to the Earth’s core and back into
outer space.
What does this artist do? She tests available ways of seeing. She examines media that
has been introduced in order to let us see more and more clearly. Thanks to these
media, a mass experience of transmission and fixation of an image occurs. By
switching and mixing media, art practitioners express and explore the human pursuit
of capturing an image; they keep widening the angle of view. Consequently visual art
pieces often symbolise a recurring dream about escaping the limits of the physical
world. Moreover in this “dream” one uses these limits to change the status quo.When
once the unreal becomes true, we see that we crave more and we continue to gaze at
the stars. Eventually breaking through to the celestial spheres.
In her work Scislowicz often refers to knowledge and wisdom. She explores science’s
relationship to faith and the physical world. The artist recalls a magical side to
knowledge. She travels back in time to the point when gaining knowledge equaled
acquiring access to magical powers. She delves into related phenomena, such as the
acceptance of: new inventions as truth and the belief in circulating information. As
such, Scislowicz’s practice is chiefly concerned with unlocking the potential of one’s
mind and body.
A journey into the crystal ball of knowledge is like diving into a jar of honey. Honey
is often seen as a beneficial substance, not only is it hard to digest but it’s also the
outcome of self-enforced slave labour of bees. No journey is impossible. In theory,
everyone can get to the sources, even through herds of wild animals and the celestial
spheres.
As the body of the artist’s work unfolds, a crystal ball detaches itself like a bloom, or
the head of a tiger and turns into a planet. We watch numerous spheres as they
circulate, only to transform into balls, a bearing, a roasted chickpea in Bombay Mix or
sheep droppings found on the path of a French garden’s labyrinth. Everything
fertilises, grows, fits together, propels and bounces off one other. Once we spot the
cosmic rhythm and hear the cosmogonic myth we realise how remote they are.
Alarmed by this distance, in self-defense, I start to wonder if she, you, or I, lost
her…or lost your mind… or my mind. Understanding is believed to be barely
instinctive. Empathy is embedded in the human’s primal instincts but in reality it is
often subdued by the social mechanism of exclusion, the chasing of insanity or the
witch-hunt.
Now and then we wonder if we are (still) sane. We are not certain, as it is a unique
and blurry notion, remembering it involves an effort. Sui Generis1 cannot be lived
once again. We are merely capable of recalling its smell or temperature. We can try to
refer to all our senses or to surrender and name it as déjà vu.
--------------------------------------------
1 Sui generis is a Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics.
In the crystal ball and in the tiger’s glass eyes an image emerges - that seems to be
the reflection of perfect symmetry - should a tiger be perfectly symmetric? Take extra
care when approaching it. Alternatively, take a risk and let the tiger seduce you.
Blessed failure
Ideas versus idealisation: idyllic versus lurid. The under skin rash (a pattern that
appears on the skin) is not merely a random configuration of decorative speckles, it
represents unique DNA that form a pattern when magnified. Genetic material aside,
there is also an array of external substances that when absorbed by our bodies and
minds have an impact on our behavioural patterns. These external factors not only
influence our body’s shape but they also dictate what comes out through our skin.
By performing a number of hybrid characters the artist undermines inflexible forms of
identity, fixed beliefs and behavioural patterns. Her work suggests that an individual
is capable of migrating through a range of personas without suffering from an identity
crisis, seemingly possessing some superpowers to achieve this. Scislowicz’s output is
like an appeal to the superpower to come. They are reminiscent of power growth
recipes. The message is positive in rather a persistent way. Scislowicz’s Felix culpa2
unlike Samuel Beckett’s No Matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail Better, is not even
seemingly cynical. Her surreal ideas convey a reassured waiting for the miracle of
improvement. She believes that achieving equilibrium and happiness is doable and
does not consider herself to be naïve.
Managing tools and visions
Through the creative involvement with art the artist gains a hyper potential and
acquires the skills to exercise an influence. Artists usurp the right to gather, produce
and spread energy, no wonder they become public enemies and/or idols. This kind of
leadership is rarely manufactured and generally establishes itself naturally. If they are
smart they will be able to maintain a balance between contrary notions of power. If
their power extends towards the magical it manages to connect the two poles of the
crystal ball. How does one cope with this position? The crystal ball may turn out to
be a soap bubble! No, our artist is not going to become a queen, she would rather be a
shaman, an animal or a fairy (Sui Generis3, 2007).
Scislowicz joins visionaries by piercing a built up membrane maintained by systems
of power. The artist utilises screens, a video camera as a surveillance tool and looks
through old photographs and prints. These are inherited tissues of the individual as
well as being from a collective imagination and memory. Among them are those that
are wild as well as domesticated.
In her work video cameras and visions of animals come to life. The artist confuses the
queen and comforts the executed tiger, offering them new incarnations. Her videos
and paintings are like projections interacting with one’s imagination allowing it to get
----------------------------------------------
2 Felix culpa is a Latin phrase that literally translated means a “blessed fault” or “fortunate fall”.
3 Sui generis is a Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics.
the bigger picture. Following the desire for the images, the artist accepts and mixes a
variety of media in order to obtain a preview of the celestial spheres.
As if nothing had happened, various ideas keep floating through the celestial spheres.
They travel in time, carried inside bubbles of the incredible. As technology changes
and progresses a visionary’s tools change their shape and technical specifications; a
computer screen is the new crystal ball.
It’s teatime!
During the break for a cake (a zebra cake is recommended) and a cup of tea with
added fruit syrup, I would like to add a supplement to this text about Sabina
Scislowicz’s art. Imagine it is projected onto a small screen accompanied by the
relevant images:
Sabina is one of these smart multi media art kids, who discovered secret links between
overcrowded corridors. They explored passages, which for some of their peers
remained impenetrable. You know which ones I mean, all those who climbed up trees
and who were never scared of jumping into deep water. Those, who could watch
clouds and animals for hours. After doing all that they would come back home with
their faces dirty and their jeans pockets filled with patches of animal pattern fabric,
fragments of old tiles, drill bits, paint tubes, LCD screens, mini DV tapes, pencils and
chunky pieces of charcoal.
She has been painting large, harmonious canvases for a while. These vibrant images
consisted of enchanting shapes, behind which an anticipated tiger has been having a
nap. At that time Sabina supported herself in her exploration of the world with video
cameras. Their mechanical movement contrasted with the artist’s spontaneous
migration. Heading towards the North Pole she learnt a looped rhythm of the hot
springs’ outburst. Everything revealed its carbon origin - charcoal, electronic circuit
and fake fur whereas the magnetic poles turned out to be connected through a fibre
optic rainbow.
The honeycomb’s structure is reminiscent of the body tissue. These ideal infinitives
are perfectly open clusters of modules that mimic and belong to the cosmic structures.
They correspond to the magnified cosmic intestines.
A shoal of the tealeaves swirled and started to mix with thick substance of the fruit
syrup. The avalanches of the cake crumbs went down the laps’ slopes. Everyone
followed them.
The miracle of turning into an animal. Searching for the substance.
The multimedia artists’ involvement in performance art modifies their strategies.
They are keen to share experiences gained from their journeys. As zoomorphism and
anthropomorphism have been entrenched within cultures, various contemporary
artists import references from the primeval into their practice. The demand for it
hasn’t decreased in the course of our times. Visual artists along with pop musicians
keep exploring these fields and their investigations are usually well received.
Audiences and spectators instinctively respond to the visualised significance of the
trans-species connections. On her zoo/anthropomorphic journey Scislowicz puts on
masks and uses other elements drawn from the animal kingdom. Through wearing a
“tiger head extension” and performing the Bee Dance she makes us think of
symbolism and surrealism. More importantly, she contributes to a current visual
culture movement, reviving our collective fascination with hybrid forms. The artistic
practice related to this, encompasses a manifestation of heterogeneous human nature.
Exploring a potential inter-species dialogue the artworks often present visions of
altered creatures. These striped down and clear characters visualise ideas of the
hybrid. The artists behind the works delve into the “magical” and “mutated”. They
also employ objects and substances incorporating “organic” and “synthetic” qualities.
Their pieces distort our instinct of recognition and experiment with a given scientific
approach.
Scislowicz’s art is an outcome of the synthesis of many gestures. It migrates from
painting through performance via video installation and to drawing. The vocabulary
of her art becomes familiar once the communication between the works is spotted.
The artist stirs an organic, nutritious substance of “power” and “happiness”. She
creates images/talismans intended to generate and preserve these components. The
puffin’s bust (Tiger of Perfect Symmetry, 2005), the giant heart shaped walnut kernel
(Sui Generis, 2007) and the drop of permanent fluctuation (Eye of the Cyclon, 2006)
are examples of such hybrid objects.
An eclectic, multimedia game. Oops! You turn into a tiger and you become a
queen.
Scislowicz in her art modifies the significance and identity of theories, symbolic
figures, animals and objects. The rules of this interactive game are set out as follows:
to transform and merge myths and to disrupt one’s belief in them. In Roots, the artist’s
collaborative work with Joseph Sallis, the performers stand in for a (biblical) crowd,
meanwhile an inflatable dolphin toy constitutes a messiah.
The hot spring-geyser included in the Tiger of Perfect Symmetry installation becomes
the Earth’s trachea, a navel located in the centre of the world. A video projected living
sheep seems to win the face off with a naked girl sat on a sheepskin rug. The girl
might become an element, cliché or a symbol. The animal calm and focused claims its
victory from within the screen; it seems to rise to its role of a medium. Both
characters could be suspected of competing for the audiences’ attention.
Surrealism, which gave human features to animals and which tended to enliven
objects, also conceived a piece that seemed to objectify women4. While the author of
the work – Meret Oppenheim explored phenomenon of celebration, other women
surrealists, such as Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, focused on
characteristics shared with animals. Exalting animals in their work, both artists
celebrated femininity and zoomorphism. Scislowicz updates these surrealistic visions
with a feminist legacy but remains fond of the hybrid surrealist woman artists. She
---------------------------------------------
4 When Meret Oppenheim created Le Festin, the 1959 happening in which she served a feast on the body of a
beautiful girl, she claimed not to have had feminism in mind. Her work remains open to multiple interpretations.
While it can be seen as reclamation of the nude female form from the codes that had determined it in the past, from
Oppenheim’s standpoint, Le Festin was a celebration, a ritual, or a rite.
continues the exploration of rituals, investigating the myths of origin, destiny and
association. The artist challenges the female, animal and royal roles. She faces an
animal, recalls and becomes one. Her repertoire includes a sheep, a bee and, last but
not least, a tiger. All these animals are fuzzy. This common feature indicates
processes that run simultaneously around the globe. The patterns and textures give
away similar activities that have been undertaken for thousands of years by
inhabitants of the planet’s numerous islands. We are all involved in voyeurism,
participation and transformation regardless of the species and tribe that we belong to.
Is this girl trying to seduce her audience? Is she a new incarnation of a wise woman or
an authoritative artist? Perhaps she sees more than the average person, like Edward
Weston, the American photographer, who believed that through his own practice he
was “performing the Blakean task of cleansing the senses (…)”?
Edward Weston described his own work and its presentation to an audience as “(…)
showing to them what their own unseeing eyes had missed.”5 Fortunately, Sabina
Sallis Scislowicz encourages us to close our eyes (Felix culpa, 2007), and to cut off
the infinite audio-visual stream. When are you going to reopen your eyes? When you
reopen your eyes the amused tiger may be enjoying his head again.
Zbigniew Kotkiewicz, 2010
----------------------------------------------
5 Susan Sontag; On Photography, Penguin Classics 2002
