A PROCESS SERIES II
DRAGANA JURISIC
KATIE HOLTEN
WENDY WHITE
BAHAREH KHOSHOOEE
Organized by Jessamyn Fiore
February 2–April 2, 2017
For immediate release:
Rawson Projects is very excited to announce the second iteration of A Process Series, a sequence of mini solo exhibitions that invites each artist to transform the gallery space in order to present and explore the inspiration behind their most recent work.
A Process Series II invites four female artists to reflect on how politics influences their artistic practice. Each comes from a different background and works in a different medium, but all use their artistic voice to explore our contemporary political reality from their own unique perspective.
In the urgency of this current political climate Rawson Projects asks simply “what is inspiring you now?” and then gives these four artists a carte blanche gallery space in which to reply. Encouraging experimentation in medium specificity and audience engagement, this two month program opens up a conversation around creative influence, politics and identity: What is the artist’s role at this moment in addressing contemporary events? Is a politically engaged artistic process equal to art activism or is it an inherent feature in any significant contemporary art practice? How does art stay relevant and necessary in an extreme political reality?
From February 2 to 12, Dragana Jurisic will present an intimate work entitled My Own Unknown, which chronicles the disappearance of her aunt from 1950s Yugoslavia that ruminates on the oppression of women in failing political states.
Artist statement:
"My Own Unknown incorporates stories of three women, myself, my Aunt Gordana Čavić and a young woman who died in the late 19th century, L’Inconnue de la Seine, whose body was allegedly recovered from the River Seine and whose death mask was cast in a bid to identify her. L’Inconnue quiet beauty became a muse for artists such as Man Ray, Albert Camus, Anaïs Nin and many others, who projected imagined identities on this drowned Mona Lisa. My Own Unknown is shrouded in politics of place and painful memories of exile. It also speaks of my family history and that of my aunt, who is thought to have assumed many roles in her life– a saviour, a lover, a sex worker and a spy. Gordana died in Paris in 1987 allegedly from radioactive poisoning. The work is focused on the oppression of women through three distinct but linked historical periods.
The pivotal question of the entire project, is how well do we know anyone including ourselves? The part of the research that concerns my aunt was done like a detective work, using instant film and black notebooks. I was also able to acquire Gordana’s personal photographs and Super 8 videos, a few which survived censorship. The work consists of handwritten notebooks illustrated with archival photographs, my own photographs and "detective" notes as well as information acquired through a dream training provided by Alejandro Jodorowsky. The final work is envisioned as a combination of photography, video work and text."
Dragana Jurisic is an ex-Yugoslav artist based in Dublin, Ireland. She works predominantly through the medium of photography, film and installation. Her practice explores the issues of gender, stereotyping and the effects of exile and displacement on memory and identity. Since receiving a distinction for her MFA in 2008, Dragana Jurisic has won a significant number of awards including Dorothea Lange and Paul Taylor Award’s Special Recognition from Duke University, numerous Bursaries and Project Awards. In December 2013, Dragana completed her PhD and finalized an important three-year long project YU: The Lost Country that culminated in a critically acclaimed touring exhibition and a book. In 2016, Dragana had eight solo exhibitions (Museum of Modern and Contemorary Art, Rijeka, Croatia, Agusti Centelles Library, part of DOCfield 2016 festival Barcelona, Spain, Wexford Arts Centre, Ireland – result of winning the Emerging Visual Artist Award). Her work is in many collections including Irish State Art Collection and she has exhibited widely both in Ireland and internationally.
For more information please contact the gallery at info@rawsonprojects.com or call 212 256 0379