Sara Bjarland

Possible Wings

opening 4 June 5-7 PM
exhibition 04 06 2011 - 16 07 2011

Prolonged until 23 July 2011

The exhibition brings together new work made by Bjarland during the past year and includes photography, installation and video. The exhibition is named after a work with the same title, Possible wings, which consists of a collection of found materials; more specifically pieces of discarded plastic reminiscent of insect wings, but also evocative of archaeological findings from a distant culture. The title also refers to wings as ideas, and to how our imagination changes the way we see and perceive the world around us.

The artist's obsession with collecting 'dead' nature (especially insects and plants) and discarded materials, is the starting point for several works in the exhibition. This obsession often takes form through closely observing a specific subject for a prolonged time, or meticulously arranging materials in a specific order. The process of decay and death, both in organic and non-organic things, is also a source of inspiration for the artist, and how 'dead' matter can be reanimated. On one hand this way of observing, ordering, and sometimes deadpan way of composing and presenting materials could refer to scientific methodologies, but at the same time there is often a playful and suggestive side to the works, which expresses a kind of wonder and curiosity for the subjects. Instead of making definitions or accumulating scientific knowledge, the artist tries to create images and open them up to other possible meanings. The results of these methods are sometimes enigmatic, tragic or poetic objects, photographs and installations.

Sara Bjarland (b. 1981, Helsinki) mostly works in photography, moving image and installation. She graduated with an MFA from The Slade School of Fine Art in London in 2007, after which she moved to Amsterdam. Her work has been shown internationally for the past four years in the UK, Netherlands, Finland, Japan, Sweden, among other countries. Exhibition venues include Nieuwe Vide, Impakt Festival, Plan B Projects (Amsterdam), Oriel Davies (Wales), Matt Roberts Arts (London), The Nunnery Gallery (London), Galleri Sinne (Helsinki). In May 2011 she was the Fonds BKVB resident artist in Het Pompgemaal, Den Helder