Installation Fall 2024︎
Artist Statement
In my practice, I explore the complex relationships between materials, the environment, and the self. I am deeply interested in the concept of entanglement, where human, material, and environmental forces intertwine in a dynamic, interdependent process. Rather than imposing my preconceptions on the materials, I allow them to guide the creative flow, embracing this entangled state. I often find recurring motifs—such as reflectiveness, expansiveness, and preciousness—emerging unconsciously through this approach. These qualities reveal themselves as the materials take on their own agency within my work.
Water is a central medium in my practice, serving both literally and metaphorically as a balancing force. It allows me to navigate the tension between control and unpredictability, particularly when working with materials like mould. This duality speaks to my interest in affect—how materials elicit emotional and sensory responses that influence the direction of my work. I attune myself to the subtle prompts of the materials, responding to their shifting qualities and learning from their inherent properties. This process becomes a dialogue, a constant negotiation between control and surrender.
The ideas behind my work were initially inspired by my 2023 zine Obsellvation, in which I explored my attraction to silver as an alter ego. Silver, with its reflective quality, embodies both a symbolic and literal understanding of survival. In my work, I examine how certain materials, particularly silver and water, trigger a primal human response. We are instinctively drawn to the reflective surface of water, which signals life-giving sustenance. Through this, I connect my exploration of materials with existential themes of survival and identity.
In this context, I also engage with existentialism, seeing materials as tools and agents that shape meaning and experience. I am interested in how the materials I work with—especially silver and water—can represent a kind of existential journey. My alter ego, who envelops herself in silver and water, becomes a metaphor for survival in a world where the boundaries between self and material dissolve.
This blending of materials and concepts leads me to engage with flow theory. I am drawn to moments when the creation process becomes immersive—when I am fully absorbed in the work and the boundaries between the self, the materials, and the environment blur. In these moments, I experience a state of flow, where my actions perfectly align with the materials, and I am both fully present and attuned to the process unfolding in real-time.
This new body of work documents a performance by my alter ego, capturing the fluidity of my interaction with graphite, water, and my own body. The work becomes a trace of existence, imprinting the entangled relationship between affect, materiality, and the human condition. Each piece records this ongoing dialogue between the self and the world around me, revealing both the vulnerability and strength inherent in the act of creation.
This installation captures my ongoing research process with the archival capture of my studio's metamorphosis. I attempt to blend my existing experiments, documents, and writings into one singular space in a way that directly translates my approach to this field of interest. Mimicking an accumulation of such coded information and an active form of self-reflection, I challenge myself to explain my interaction through semantic language. With the interactions being ‘obsessive’ and acknowledging the existing alter-ego, I attempt to embrace it and yet contain it to provide a structure within the entangled chaos.
Observatory Diptych
Charcoal on tracing paper and cardboard, size ranging from 14-16 inches to 18-24inch, 2023
The final presentation for a commission
Before framing
Obselvation
ZINE
2023
An obsession with the concept of silver, centered on its visual aesthetic, where a figure is engulfed by silver and further haunted by silver, the fascination with radiance is an evolutionary by-product of our survival instincts: it calms the same part of our brain that makes us draw. to the water. His qualities are falsely intrusive; you need him to live and exist. With overload, you force yourself to feel the reality that can be created in both digital and material environments, conjuring an increase in your perception of the perspective you choose to be real.
Digitalization allows you to dive deeper and consume more glitter. The shameless embrace of twinkle, twinkle and sparkle sits next to the concept of "dopamine clothing" and is unapologetic and indulgent.
Done all by Adeliia
Explorations on the wall![]()
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