Place / Displaced Annelies Jahn / Jo Meisner
OPENING 12 APRIL 6-8PM EXHIBITION 12-23 APRIL 2018
Place / Displaced Annelies Jahn / Jo Meisner
In and Out of Place / Tim Corne Annelies Jahn and Jo Meisner have developed a strong friendship over the past six years that allows an honest and critical engagement with each other’s art practice. Visiting each other’s studios, and through discussion, they found an association between their differing but parallel practices, finding common ground in the idea of place. Place relates to an area or portion of space occupied within the world, both physically, psychologically and metaphorically. Status, condition and location are all covered within place, a place and a sense of place. The word implies a sense of connection. Displaced conveys the opposite with connotations of extrication. Being out of place or in place in the world around us, brings us a sense of understanding and order to the world we inhabit. Our environment, both physically and mentally, makes sense to us through our place within it. Displaced – being outside of, removed or detached with difficulty, are concepts of place explored by Meisner in her ongoing practice dealing with isolation within urban environments. This has been explored through the lonely figures within our cities, ranging from smartphone users to immigrants. More recently, displacement is investigated in a more personal body of work using the artist’s own form. Layered fabric figures with suggestions of comfort, warmth, and domesticity lie against cold slabs of black. The bodies and heads are separated and bare the marks of crude stitching. The artist examines the place she is in after a medical
diagnosis and dealing with the impacts the symptoms have on her life. Threads of lost stories are to be found in the many layers concealed within these forms, with their frayed unravelling memories of a life. Each work stands in place, an artefact and chapter in life. Being in place – existing within, and the habitation of place are explored through the practice of Jahn. The space and sites of the artist’s life and the experience of a place is the focus of Jahn’s work. These places are documented digitally, in drawings and recorded as objects which are both found and manufactured. The objects Jahn presents are often discovered, discarded and out of place in the urban landscape. The essence of place, particularly internal, is played with, conflated and re-examined. Displaced objects are positioned within the gallery setting. Layers of awareness are brought into focus through the careful examination of particular physical places. Thoughtful observations of the fabric of a place are brought to our attention through the artist’s work. Our mental space can be observed through a slow consideration of place as location, sewing together the place we are in, and the place we are at in our lives. Our relationship with place and how we relate to the world – our place within it – are explored in the works of these artists. Both artists approach concepts of place and displacement in their work and invite the viewer to examine their own sense of place.
Annelies Jahn annelies@jahn.com.au 0412 608 469 instagram.com/anneliesjahn Jo Meisner gojo.meisner@gmail.com 0418 236 680 jomeisner.com.au instagram.com/jomeisner
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