Astrid Svangren: Amongst all sorts of colours, venus hair, and a day of thirst, a sleeping jellyfish, it is the memory place

Amongst all sorts of colours,
venus hair
and a day of thirst
a sleeping jellyfish
it is the memory place

“The sea, it is said, lives inside the shells. You put your young ears to its lips and there, in miniature, is the peculiar whooshing of waves, the insistent comings and goings of the water lapping at the shore. How did the sea get inside there, your young voice asks. The sea, you are simply told, lives inside the shells. It’s where they are from, the sea is part of them, they keep it held within. As if that’s an explanation. You wonder how the water ingrains itself in the hard, porcelain textures of the shell, how it carries the water with it without spilling. You wonder how it translates the wetness into sound, into echoes of its home.” – uddrag af Chris Fite-Wassilak udstillingstekst Frothing at the Mouth.

Det er en verden af overgange, gennemsigtighed og stoflighed, der folder sig ud i hendes maleriinstallation på Tranen med sensuelle objekter, der består af glas, dufte og hår, beklædt med stof og folier. Havet er centralt i installationen: konkylier, havblink og en samtidsversion af den antikke myte om Den Skumfødte Venus er hovedrolleindehaverne i rummet. I denne version er det ikke kvindekroppen men den kropslige sansning der skildres. Havet er et billede på det livgivende, ubevidste og den sanselige oplevelse af verden i Svangrens udstilling. Hun undersøger ’Liminal States’ – tilstande, hvor mennesket, som i ritualer og drømme, føres fra en væren til en anden.

Kilde: Tranen