Ania Krajewski

Artists

• Wim Botha
• Bob Cnoops
• Hugo Crosthwaite
• James de Villiers
• Sasha Fabris
• Gordon Froud
• Rookeya Gardee
• David Hlynsky (Canada)
• Ashley Johnson
• Nkosinathi Khanyile
• Ania Krajewski

• Michael Matthews
• Nhlanhla Mbatha
• Rankadi Mosako
• Margi Scharff (USA)
• Diane Victor

DASART shows

An Introduction to Dasart

Transmigrations - the show

Transmigrations Synopsis

Fokofo

Dasart Archives

The idea of Transmigration must presuppose that it is possible in fact, for ideas to travel, to move across borders of perceptions and conceptions created by humans. Human minds and human systems operate creating ideas and clusters of ideas which "glued" in more or less favourable ways give a basis to understanding the world. Thus, the world presents itself to us. It will follow that our understanding of the world reflects the "description" human reasoning was able to construct at the particular moment in history. But... as Carlos Castaneda argues in Tales of Power, " ... the world is not as the description portrays it, ... (and) ... there is much more to it than what meets the eye." This moment of admittance that we believe what we see - and that what we see is limited by our knowledge, and that our ability to see is limited - therefore our seeing does not necessarily reflect the "real state of affairs" - is of particular interest to me. The expansion of knowledge, growth of ideas and rituals - which are reenactments of our beliefs about the world - and exchange of the "ways" to see and touch the world between different cultures reflecting varied shifts of human perception, are the key words in my interpretation of the theme of Transmigration.

Work 1: Mediators

Kites were intimately interwoven into the cosmologies and religions of Polynesian culture. They were thought of as the means of establishing contact with the gods and the heavens, as "celestial communicators". According to Clive Hart kite flying emerged in fairly early days of the Polynesian civilisation. This emergence seems to signify a general turnabout in the culture as it was not associated with the matriarchal volcano-gods of the Pre-Polynesian religions but was connected to patriarchal cults of Rongo, Tane and Rehua. An intimate relationship existed between kites and the gods. It resulted in interesting mythological stories. Rehua was the god of highest heaven and of health. He was thought of not only as a sacred bird, but also as the kite-'ancestor'. From him all other kites are descended. In general, the gods were frequently represented by birds, and the transition to the kite - which was often bird-shaped and called by a word meaning 'bird' - was easily made. Men approached kites in a two-fold way, on one hand they were to be symbolic of gods, on the other, they were used as physical instruments that served to initiate the communication with the godly element. Hart informs us that kite-competitions in Hawaiian stories are "described as struggles between the gods and the elements. The gods themselves, in their celestial games, are said to have indulged in kite-competitions. In some stories kites, playing the roles of gods and goddesses, actually mate and produce offspring" (Hart 1967:53).

When I started the project it was the idea of a kite, rather than its material being, that inspired the work. The project originated from my own personal myth about a parallel universe inhabited by gods, who are isolated from humans but longing for some kind of contact with them. The only means of acquiring knowledge of the earth is to construct kites to be flown to earth in order to document it. In a way it is a reversal of the Eastern, Polynesian and traditional mythologies. In my mythology the gods make the attempt at communication, not human beings. To me this reflected the general alienation of mythology and the divine element from our present life. Those gods, in a way, symbolise some vital part of us which longs for reconciliation with earth and nature, which has been increasingly abandoned by the West since the 17th century.

Furthermore, the reversal of the typical roles assumed by gods and humans are projected onto the kites which emphasise the descent rather than ascent. The kites were to take imprints of the earth, where the soil, rocks and earthly matter is of prime importance. Some of them even carry references to animal hides, tortured and burned, as an allusion to the abuse of earth and its resources. These kites are not and were never meant to be playful.

I chose the title "Mediators" for the installation to direct attention towards the two different realms between which the process of mediation takes place. Thus the content of the work is extended, and the kites point outside themselves. By linking the two essentially disparate entities of earth and sky they question their separation. Their treatment as earthlings - by suggested weight and the intention to evoke ground, rocks and soil - bears the mark of the earth, while the objects themselves are connected to the sky. Thus the gap between the earth and sky is being narrowed, as the two seemingly contrasting ideas are brought together in one object, the kite. Joseph Campbell said that "Earth has been elevated to the status of heavens, the material became the spiritual ... and the old dichotomy between man and god is finished".

Ambiguity and alternative metaphorical associations lead to open-ended interpretations. The ideas of representation in the Classical age were subservient to the ideal of meaning, which was transparent. These ideas presented an ordered "objective" totality with a clear interpretation, whereas contemporary ideas of representation require ongoing interpretation, and assert multiple meanings which not only deny transparency, but often include contradictions. My intention was to layer the objects with alternative associations. The kites, by their nature, suggest sky and flight. By saturating them with references to ideas of crucifixion, ancient rituals, African shields, human torsos and mummification, all of which evoke earth, they acquire the role of mediators between different ideas. In this work mediation is about dichotomies, it suggests a dialogue between entities whose polarisation is thereby brought into question. This mediation is not only between the earth and the sky but also between life and death, beginnings and ends. Ihab Hassan says that: "as in the beginning, so in the end; as above, so below. Such are the principles of mythical thought.... Yet if beginnings and ends are cognate, they must express, on some level at least, a point of contact, perhaps even of identity " (Waugh 1992:67-68). My work attempts to create that contact, that identity.

The "basic diamond shape" of the assembled kites is rather irregular and organic. It directly corresponds to the vesica piscis shape, which echoes the shapes of the plants and animals around us and the shapes of our own bodies. We see this shape in seeds, leaves, bodies of fish, insects and birds. In the words of Jonathan Hale "some of the attraction of the vesica piscis is its combination of wildness and logic. It is the visceral shape, the food shape: fish, wheat, kernels, eggs. The meaning of the vesica piscis is more than just abstract goodness, the unity of all things. The vesica piscis is sex and muscle and food and blood. The vesica piscis is animal and therefore a little smelly, the vesica piscis is spirit and therefore a little abstract. The vesica attracts and it repels" (Hale 1994:83-84). The shape itself is a carrier of metaphoric ambiguities.

Bamboo and paper was a natural choice for this project. During the process of making the kites, their physical being and creation became of prime importance. It acquired meanings of its own, and the tools and the materials employed in that process formed a part of that meaning. All the materials used in the process were transformed from a state where they signify their own identity to a state where they signify a being with its own independent nature. The paper was manipulated in such a way that it evoked the ideas of impressions of the earth. Further, it was emphasised by the earthly choice of colours. Yet, paper by its very nature signifies lightness and ability to escape gravity. The diverse treatment of the surfaces ranging from dull, burned, and chalky to shiny and transparent was to reflect the diversity of the earth. Oil and Venetian turpentine was chosen as a medium for the paint because it allowed me to achieve the varied and rich textures. The bee-wax applied to the surface of some kites is connected with the ancient ideas of healing. Fire was used in the process as an alchemic component which changed the inner structure of the matter. Fire has the ability to transform something from one state of being into another. It is also a symbol of repelling negativity. The use of glues and adhesives signifies the joining of materials, and in my work it also symbolises making inner connections between separate things. Each moment of the process, from choosing the appropriate blade of bamboo to be cut away from the earth, up to hanging the finished kite, was equally important.

My work is connected to ideas of shamanism, and I would define it as offering or provoking different perceptions, inducing a glimpse of alternative worlds and alternative ways of understanding the world. I think that society is more and more open to these alternatives. We are the creators of objects but also the creators of their meaning. The problem I am concerned with here, is not so much the nature of the object itself, but the mythology related to it. Mythology was rather ignored and abandoned for a long time, by the "rational psyche" of humanity. Recently the increasing focus on mythology is reflected in many debates on the subject. For example, Derrida "does away" with mythology in On White Mythology. He states that metaphysics is white mythology and it will always be caught up in seeking the truth. Blumberg, on the other hand, insists that mythology forgoes the truth, and he proposes to substitute 'significance' for truth. Ihab Hassan in his article entitled The New Gnosticism; Speculations on an Aspect of the Postmodern Mind stresses the importance of mythology in the postmodern world. So does Suzi Gablik in The Reenchantment of Art. It seems that at the present moment we are in the middle of the debate. However, metaphor enables us to express ideas we can not verbalise and transform them into a narrative. Until, or unless we find a better means of communicating that which can not be verbalised, we will need metaphors to 'mediate' between the worlds of the spoken and unspoken.

Work 2: Dionysian and Apollonian Elements in The Myth of Icarus (Digital Images)

The Greek myth of Icarus is the theme of the digital art. The myth manifests fusion of two principles present in Western culture - the logicality of the Apollonian component which acted upon the evolvement of culture and technology, and the dark Dionysian principle which emphasises the chthonian mysteries, the unknown and the irrational.

The ancient theme of Icarus, still present in contemporary art, has acquired new meanings and new interpretations. Thus, the original myth of Icarus is reinterpreted and reinvented in order to address different paradigms we live in. It can also be seen as a reflection of pluralism, as today's artists invent different structures and their own individual meanings concerning the myth of Icarus.

Greek tragedy arose as a result of the discordance between the old heroic culture and the new city-state. The heroic culture embraces the earth-cults and can be described as the chthonian force, the Dionysian understanding or intuitive feeling of reality. But this conflicts with the concept of the new city-state, which is the epitome of order, rationality as well as a submission to the law. The Apollonian force creates a new reality for humans , rendering the organic and dark forces of nature as more rational, therefore more acceptable. Nietzsche was of the opinion that a strong Dionysian element, which was present in the Greek concept of the world, was used to explain conflicts existing in people's lives. This element reflects the belief that all life forces contain the power to inspire, as well as the potential to destroy.

In the digital images the emphasis is placed on examination of the Apollonian and Dionysian forces, the influences they had and still play upon each other, as well as their interwoven, mutual dependence in the Western perception of the world.

The element of imprisonment present in the myth of Icarus is the first and initial driving force behind the concept of acquiring the man-made wings. We see here the imprisonment in chthonian, Dionysian environment as the main inducement behind the rational structure of a newly formed sky-cult. The myth is constructed on four main key episodes - confinement, escape (technological effort - the wings will carry Daedalus and Icarus to freedom), flight (crossing of earth boundaries - female aspect which is also chthonian, towards the sky - male aspect), fall (immersion in waters, powerful primordial constraint which can also be seen as baptism and the return to the origins - the chthonian element which is sanctified by the sacrifice). These four narrative episodes present, in a chronological way, the outcome - a dream that went out of control, and in which the results were not anticipated.

Art has always been connected to mythology, but mostly as a representation of the inherited meanings of mythologies, handed down by tradition. In the postmodern paradigm artists choose and invent their own mythology. The most important conclusion of this exhibition will be that mythologies are not only a set of narratives with rigid instructive morals and a single interpretation. Mythologies are active expressions of the human perceptions of the world and they are formative elements in constructing paradigms.

Work 3: Vessels

This work is an extension of the digital images but incorporates a tragi-comic element in the plastic spheres which masquerade as weight and seriousness but express also the comical. Air is given form and the vessels bear it as weight and yet air is also as nothing.

Ania Krajewski
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