LAYERS, 2012
Exhibition view: Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich
Original photos: Christian Ditsch, R. Maro
Description
LAYERS
The series Layers (2011) attest to the interest with which Maja Bajevic has followed the protests and tumults in Europe and the USA during 2011. The photographic images, pinned on canvas and embroidered with delicates flowers or birds and are exhibited hanging on a clothing line. The pictures were taken by journalists, who were present at the demonstrations. The rights to use the photographs were acquired by the artist from “Version” – a press agency in Berlin, and the title of each work takes over the original title of the agency. Decontextualised they become quasi-insignificant and express more a state of danger or fear of a violent reaction than a real event. On each print the artist has added embroideries that are in contrast to the latent violence of the images and refer to values of tradition, continuance and a middle class resemblance of “normality”; a balance which has been destabilized through the protests, like the small bourgeoisie practice of closing eyes in front of events that might be disturbing. The artwork confirms that no system is unfailing, no ideal timeless and no truth untouchable.