ALINA FRIESKE

This show features panels of digitally assembled photos, depicting closely intertwined narrowed figures and body parts. These figures, however faceless, are defined by the expression of their gestures, rising and falling down the frame in a similar fashion to quicksand. Hands are eagerly pulling bag straps and fabrics, reaching for a grip as they risk sinking into blurry grounds. A firm hold on the phone, an index finger pressing the shutter release or the outstretched hand carrying too many bags, have been reduced to their essential forms to be re-contextualized.

Central to this exhibition is the ‘Stand-In’ series, which explores different scenarios about entanglement in the form of a panorama. Bodies either fight for dominance, blend into the crowd, copy each other’s placement, or hope to escape the claustrophobic edges of the pieces. Within this ambivalence, the obsessive act of self-exposure does not come without an equally disturbing desire of being erased and to remain anonymous.

As we fight for attention in social media, the figures similarly claim their turn in the spotlight. The stranger only visible online is personified by body movement and rendered mythical in a baroque setting.Throughout the series, pictorial elements are deliberately repeated to provide different viewpoints to the same interaction. This circular effect is made even more evident in the work ‘Chimera’, in which, parts of the composition are repeated as sculptural elements in the gallery space. As floating silhouettes, they create a further reference to photo stands-ins, waiting for a new face to complete the picture.

The exhibition expands on the theme of masking, presenting sets of images partially covered. These stencil cuts reveal only contours of the print below, reminiscent of sketches drawn in an early composition.This project offers a deep reflection on the self in a media saturated space. How much does the abundance of information influence our behaviors?