Satellite Zine!

I am happy to present two pieces I put forward as part of this months Satellite Zine looking at 'Space & Placement'. The pieces look at Performance and being away on Erasmus Exchange!

Have a look at the edition here:

SATELLITE ZINE

I'm away on Erasmus Exchange!

I am currently away on Erasmus Exchange for second semester of 3rd year. I will be studying at the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan on their Visual Arts course. I have created a separate blog to document this experience, so if you want to keep up to date with my artistic journeys look on:

http://sylvia-naba.blogspot.com/

'Internal Light' ~ Performance Documentation....

This is a collection of documentation from my first interactive performance and installation piece: 

'Inner Light'. As each participant entered the space, I gave them this piece of writing to prepare them before their individual performance experience...

These are a series of stills taken by Ruth Aitken, my lovely assistant on the night of the Performance:

I want to give a special thank you to Colin Morton and Annie Minnaar who came and participated in my first interactive installation piece, and to my amazement, both stayed until the very end, enduring 1.5 hours of silence within these spaces...

ARTISTS STATEMENT

 Art, to me is a reflective process. It is not a statement, or even a message; art is a space for us to truly encounter ourselves. It is a mirror, and it is very much a physical experience. A place where we can participate in the process of art making…

As an artist I want to explore this concept by making my work purely interactive. I want the public to enter the spaces and artworks and within them to become aware of their presence and to perceive a sense of altered consciousness.

Art is a connection; it is an outward expression of humanity. It reveals and depicts who we are. It is bringing our inner dialogues into outer and public spaces.

In my life I have wanted to be everything. I have wanted to be a writer, a singer, a musician, a teacher, an actress, a politician, an anthropologist, a physiologist and philosopher. But what attracted me to the practice of art is the concept behind it and the fact that it has no boundaries; it connects directly to your life.

As an artist I am interested in people, in culture and in movement, in space, in identity, in politics and nature, and the way we express and interact with one another. I want to be involved in everything that is ACTIVE and that gives PERSPECTIVE.

Something that is tangible and that never truly has an answer~ 
The expression of humanity…

Looking back on old projects...

The Dance of Life~

'The Dance of Life' was my first performance to camera piece. I made this video at my time on the Degree Foundation in Film & TV course at Stevenson College in 2007. Looking back at this project I definitely feel it was a very open piece and I very much explored myself within it. The dance was meat to reflect the journey of life, transitioning from birth to death; the eternal presence of humanity.
In this project I looked at a lot of female artists and at the way woman express themselves through their art forms. I was especially inspired by Frida Kahlo & Tracey Emin, two artists who both use their art as a reflection of their inner selves...

 Dreamcatcher~

'Dreamcatcher' was another piece I made on the Stevenson course and it explored the connections between the world of the conscious and subconscious. The video used a mixture of effects including stop motion animation and overlapping dreamy imagery. For this piece I made a dream catcher and filmed in various locations, the  main one being at the woods next to Yellow Craigs Beach.
I really like this piece because it symbolizes to me a time in my artistic practice where I developed a lot through being very practical and imaginative with my work.

Lost In Transition~

'Lost In Transition' was the last video I worked on as part of the Degree Foundation course. This piece was a mixture of still and moving images, with the background soundtrack of' Utopia' by Goldphrapp. The main quote that inspired me to use this was the line: 

"I forget who I am, when I'm with you."

This music video created a journey within the process of growing up... Again like an internal journey, a place of reflection, where we become absorbed by the nature of time itself...

(All films where made in 2007 at Stevenson College, Edinburgh)

Pilar Albarracin~ Performance Artist...

At christmas, I discovered the performance artist; Pilar Albarracin.
This was especially inspirational to me as I have Andalucian roots and she is the most contemporary artist working there at present. She works with the mediums of video, performance and time based art forms, questioning the cultural energy of Andalucia, using a a strong feminist pressence and exposes it's depth through her powerful imagery...

http://www.pilaralbarracin.com/home.htm

Philosophies...