Newsletter 249
March 2024
The fruit trees are blossoming and we started a new residency season.
Although we look forward, we still have vivid memories of what all happened in 2023. An extensive photo collage is on our Facebook site, while a complete overview of the residents and their projects is on the 2023 page and (for some recent highlights) in this newsletter. Sherry Wiggins has a long-term project on "heroines": she embodies mythological and historical heroines in performative photography with photographer Luis Branco. Most of the photo shoots were taken at OBRAS-Portugal or OBRAS-Holland. At this moment Sherry is shooting at OBRAS-Portugal. She embodies the Greek goddess Circe, known from Homer's The Odyssey and other texts, in which Circe uses drugged wine to turn men into pigs.
Over the centuries, Circe has been a source of inspiration for painters, composers, poets and writers. In all artworks she is a strong woman in a man's world. But she got assigned countless roles: seductress, heroine, witch, prostitute, expert of hallucinogenic herbs, devourer of men, sexually free woman, ... At OBRAS-Portugal, Sherry is now performing Circe turning lions and wolves into tame sheep. For this photo shoot she invited a number of our friends to act (Jacinta, São, Fatima, António, Pedro). More about Sherry's project will be shown later. In November, Kevin and Sara Tolman (USA) were taking care of our house, cats and garden. In the same time, they worked on their art. Kevin made a series of collages, in which he included traces of printed matter (pieces of journals, product labels, packaging paper, …). In most cases they were hardly visible through a transparent layer of paint: the viewer has a lot to discover.
Sara emerged herself in nature, especially to find out what trees do with her mind. Every day she chose one tree to photograph and to hug. She also made a nice lino cut that showed her fascination with trees. Until 1 November, Rob Monaghan (Ireland) had an exhibition: MOVING MARBLE, in the fortress of Evoramonte. The exhibition was dedicated to the abandoned marble quarries in the Estremoz region. Since 2017 Rob had five residencies at OBRAS. It resulted in several collaborations with other residents and five exhibitions or video screening in Portugal, Ireland, USA and Spain. MOVING MARBLE shows mostly new work, including a 3D video. A brochure was made starting with the following introduction: In Less than a century, humans have dug their way into marble rock that has been created over millions of years. Three decades ago, they vacated most of these excavated sites, leaving deep cavernous holes often resembling lunar craters or inverted cathedrals. Hesitantly, nature returns, sometimes in the form of a tiny tree, sometimes as a lush paradise. Knight, explorer and artist, armed with only curiosity: Robert Monaghan sought contact with this unknown world. In this exhibition he shows his findings, his feelings and his vision, using video, photo and sound installations. During his artistic residencies at Foundation OBRAS in Evoramonte, Rob Monaghan started collaborative projects with several artists. Two have become part of this exhibition: a video of a dance performance in an abandoned quarry by Phyllis Akinyi and a composition of quarry sounds by Alëna Korolëva.
I Am All Things. Video of a dance performance by Phyllis Akinyi (8 minutes)
Phyllis Akinyi lives in Denmark and has roots in Kenya. This video is an exploration of an artist entering the realm of surrender and being guided by the energy of the quarry site. This concept was discussed by Phyllis Akinyi and Rob Monaghan pre-shoot. They worked mostly in silence and meditation throughout the day being only guided by feeling and intuition. Resulting works are an honest portrayal of artist surrendering to nature. (www.phyllisakinyi.com) Marble Tour. A sound scape by Alëna Köroleva (35 minutes)
This piece is a cumulation of site-specific audio found in and around the quarry site areas. Alëna Köroleva is a Russian sound artist based in Canada who had a residency at OBRAS in 2022. Her collaboration with Rob Monaghan was born out of both artists working on the same sites at the same time in different mediums. The combined work creates a tapestry of sound and visual experience that aims bringing the essence of the quarry sites to the viewer. (https://alenakoroleva.com) |
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