Unfamiliar Area | Tamara Mihalič: “In Spasm”

11 June 2023 > 12 July 2023 Kindly invited to the mini online "Unfamiliar Area" exhibition "In Spasm" by Tamara Mihalič.

The work is a sketch for a linocut, which is a part of a series of works in various techniques as part of the series In Spasm. The series researches the placement of the body in a format and explores how to express the internal spasm on the body. The works from the series In Spasm flirt with the figures of Egon Schiele and frequently quote the painter's works. The work features a torso of a figure with its back turned to the viewer. The whole body is wrapped in a convulsive pose, while in the second plan, a palm is visible, reaching unsuccessfully towards the top of the sketch.

The sketch of the body illustrates claustrophobia, the inability of liberation and the deficiency of the body. The body is a means through which we feel. It is one, unique and irreplaceable.  Objective experiences, however, are the ones that guide, govern or damage it. Tamara Mihalič's work is about the injury of the body, how the body feels the injury, how the body stays in the moments of trauma. It shows us how the artist sees her own body - in spasm. The drawn body is emaciated, parts of the body are missing, some parts of the body are transparent. The feeling of trauma is physical; first the brain perceives the disturbance, later the perception transforms into a bodily response. The body can wade through its own response and transform it into something something bearable, and with time imperceptible. It learns from itself and is available to us as an inseparable part of the sensory system.

Nina Baznik

 

Tamara Mihalič (1995, Koper) graduated in video and new media from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, where she is currently completing her master's degree. She is active in the field of art in her hometown of Piran, where from 2015 to 2018 she exhibited at the Town Wall Festival, Piran Ex-tempore, Monfort Exhibition Centre and Faro di Pirano Gallery. In 2020, in Ljubljana, she presented her works at the Lighting Guerrilla Festival, in the Jakopičeva Gallery, at the Independent Film Festival and at Palace Cukrarna. In 2021, she exhibited at the Montfort exhibition centre, Faro di Pirano Gallery. In 2022, she participated in the Triennial of Young Artists, Celje. In the same year, she exhibited at the Group Exhibition of Young Artists in Layer's house, Kranj. She combines various media in her artistic practice. She deals with her own experiences in the context of current social situations, which she questions and subverts through humorous gestures. In addition to the field of visual art, she is also active in the field of dance. In the past, she danced and taught ballet for a short period of time, but she is currently involved in flamenco. She lives and works in Ljubljana.

 In Spasm, 148 x 210 mm, linocut sketch, 2019

 

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Other Unfamiliar Area exhibitions

Nina Baznik: Unfamiliar Area 

and others on the downside of the page

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Curated by: Nina Baznik
Proof-reading (Slovene language): Neja Berlič
Translation (to English language): Ana Makuc
Financial support: Ministry for Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City Council Ljubljana - Department for Culture