19 February – 20 March 2022
Solastalgia
Kyra Sacks (NL, 1989) is a visual artist and anthropologist in search of ways in which visual art and social science can intertwine. In the largely textual world of social science, she explores what kind of knowledge a drawing can convey. In her art practice she seeks to incorporate ethnographic methods through which the artwork continues to spin threads with the outside world, drawing it closer.
During this exhibition Kyra presents her research into the 'new' word solastalgia: a wistful or melancholic feeling caused by the confrontation with landscapes that are changing irrevocably as a result of climate change. Climate change is often termed a hyperobject: its scale and consequences are too big and overwhelming to understand and perceive in it's totality. We are reminded of it by ominous scientific predictions and by images of places on earth where the disastrous effects are already tangible. In the art world we see how monumental installations are presented in an attempt to convey its urgency.
Landscape Of Her Youth
Seeking to draw the madness of what is about to happen closer Kyra looks for signs of solastalgia in a place she knows intimately: the landscape of her youth in the Betuwe, alongside the Waal river. The effects of climate change on the Dutch polder landscape seem intangible, but dike reinforcement projects are in full swing intended to secure the area for future floods- a precautionary measure that in itself already has big impact on the landscape and the inhabitants.
Deep Maps
By making 'deep maps' Kyra sifts through the landscape on different levels. She maps out elements she had taken for granted and zooms into details of her surroundings that are cast in a different light. In the gallery Kyra shows an installation of charcoal drawings best described as a silent free fall: the haunting sense the landscape around us is no longer the place in which we feel safe and secure and that we can turn to for comfort, that it is slowly changing and slipping through our fingers.
Talks
During the exhibition two gatherings will be organized in collaboration with Evanne Nowak in which the theme of solastalgia will be further explored with visitors. The talks will take place on Sunday February 27, 13 hours and on Wednesday March 9, 19 hours. Evanne facilitates conversations in which she discusses emotions and existential questions in light of the ecological crisis.
Installation views
Artist
Kyra Sacks
Artist-anthropologist Kyra Sacks (Amsterdam, NL, 1989) is drawn to contradictions: by how both infinite possibilities, beauty and resilience can exist side by side with uncertainty, injustice and destruction. In an attempt not to be numbed by such contrasts, she explores how they are perceived and connected. She searches for images and words that uncover the grey area between them. Between text and image, between looking outwards and inwards, between small stories and large structures. By mixing ethnographic research with the practice of drawing and vice versa, a tangible trace emerges; a web of meanings, questions and interactions. In recent years Kyra has explored a variety of topics in her art, such as the romantic projections of man on nature in the Peruvian jungle; improvised shelters in the streets of Athens; the chair without a seat as a symbol for intergenerational trauma. In addition, she has studied the consequences of forced migration: how life takes shape in the formless time of waiting in refugee camps, confrontations between different groups on the Greek island of Lesbos emerge, how Afghan youths find their way in Europe and give shape to love and relationships. And in the field of rituals: how morticians in the Netherlands search for new rituals during the pandemic, what a sense of belonging means for employees in a time of hybrid and remote work. In all her projects she combines her artistic skills with an anthropological lens.
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