Every winter there is less and less snow in the Baltics. Denial of the changing environment indirectly affects the individual lives by gradual distancing from nature, alienation, but craving for intimacy and understanding at the same time. The changes are happening on scales that are beyond human reach and maybe they can not be explained by science theories and words? Coming from a family of geologists, I am interested in these frictional relationships between culture and nature, the interaction of natural and artificial ambiances and lights that affect our daily lives. Having spent my childhood between the laptop screen and fishing on the riverside, I constantly sense that experiences are fading away. I wish my art to impact the viewer's psychology, to influence one‘s way of being present.
From video installations and experimental movies for the cinema to object-like paintings, I work with associations to create a journey through different spaces and sensations. By accumulating the flow of painterly images, atmospheric sounds, and poetic energy, I form sensual narratives. My artistic research led me to explore the structures of poetic cinema, artist moving image, suspense, magic realism, and sci-fi literature. Most projects consist of multiple works, grouped around specific themes such as organic structures, rituals in nature; the flow of natural and artificial light; expeditions into the mystery of the night, absurdly seducing happenings.
The island, 2021, full HD video, 05:14’, 16:9, stereo
I filmed The island, during a painting residency I did last summer in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The abbey of Saint-Roman built in the 5th century located inside the caves reminded me of the secluded life we had during the residency and the isolated process of creation. In this video, I am evoking the caves’ layers of history and imagine the life of the hermits, their beliefs, doubts, rituals, and thoughts.
Senelis, 2021, 4K video, 06:17', 16:9, stereo
Senelis is an aerial journey into the foggy night of Brussels observing the fragments of different people’s lives as my grandfather speaks about his loss of vision and its connection to my paintings.
Blue night in the group exhibition PÄRNU FOTOFEST 2021 / “Võõrandumine, Parnu, Estonia, 2021, photo by Jan Leo Grau
Blue night, 2020, full HD video, 09:33’, 16:9, stereo
Blue night is a sensorial journey through the dark lamp-lit cities. It seems that people are always somewhere nearby, but a deep feeling of loneliness and isolation keeps coming back. It is not clear what will happen next. I was inspired by Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver (1976), which unfolds the slow psychological transitions through different physical states. Soundscape made by Siebe Thijs.
Ritual in the exhibition “Care Infrastructures“ One Night Public Gallery, Sopot, Poland, photos by Wera Morawiec
Ritual, 2020, 4k video, 06:49’, 16:9, stereo
Ritual introduces a possible symbiosis of culture and nature and an alternative fragile relationship with the world. The character, dressed in a gentle protective suit moves slowly in an empty field surrounded by vertical branch drawings that remind of human figures and archaic structures. She adapts and nurtures an alternative society that has the potential to become a forest. By performing various rituals she discovers her relationship with the environment.
Performed by Elia Claessen.
Music developed by Suzan Peeters.
Entre nous, 2020, full HD video, 05:40', 16:9, stereo
An industrial seascape is filled with human presence. A seductive whisper recounts the job of an artist. This intimate soliloquy superposed with the distant images unfolds matters of youth, longing, love, and the organization of time and daily life in correlation to work.
Sonder, 2019, full HD video, 12:51’, 16:9, dolby 5.1
Sonder is a non-narrative film that focuses on everyday life in different spaces: nature, the outskirts of a city, a winter night in the city and the macro world. Sonder responds to the feeling of realizing that everyone, even the ones you do not know, has a life as complex as yours. The shadows of people which appear in the film are suggestions that the film is a part of the bigger world shown through a subjective vision.
