stevie knickers

i am finally, finally FINALLY done with my degree project!

i am so happy !!

here are some stills from the videos that are part of the work. the project is called 4 elements: reveries and consists of four metalwork objects and four video works exploring the four elements earth, air, fire and water.

i had the idea of a series of objects + video investigating the elements over a year ago, and then made like a yoke and a video performance with a sacrifice of milk and honey to the earth (which i now view as kind of a pilot, but also a work of its own). i then chose to do this new quartet as my degree project. after i had started the project, i unrelatedly got a book recommendation from salt salome, a really interesting artist currently living in berlin, on a book by the french philosopher Gaston Bachelard, The Psychoanalysis of Fire. Looking into him, i soon discovered he had written books on all of the four elements. I read them all. they are so interesting because they are about the relationship between the elements and our human imagination. I was inspired by his ideas, especially his concept of rêverie, the french word for daydreaming. Bachelard has this idea of active daydreaming, as a creative method and condition, kind of. This really resonated with me and with how I work, and also on how to approach the elements. So I used reverie, active daydreaming, as a method, but also view each object and each video as a revery, daydream, in physical and visual form. They are like manifestations of my daydreams about each element kind of

My examination was last week and i was so nervous because the opponent was kind of tough on the person before me, but it went great and we had a pretty nice discussion! Our examination also have a special format, that veryone views your work, and then you have to hold a speech for 10-15 minutes, presenting your work in front of the teachers, the opponent and all of the class, and also the second and first-years, and anyone else who wants to come because they are public. then the opponent critiques your work for 15 minutes, then open discussion for 15 minutes, and then everyone leaves except the teachers and there is a closed discussion for 15 minutes so it is kind of intense. i was so happy when it was over because i had been nervous for so long haha.

my friend Alvar helped me build a wall, or, two walls, that made like a corner, and then i placed it facing another corner, creating 4 walls. you enter from the gap and are then supposed to sit down in the middle, on each wall one video is projected, and one object is on a shelf underneath the video, so you are kind of surrounded by the videos and the elements and can look at them all at once. so i guess it is more like an installation, and i want it to be like an invitation for the viewer to daydream themselves. i have never had my own music for any of my video works, and my bf who works a lot with sound in his own practice made a really beautiful soundtrack that was perfect for the videos and the mood i was looking for. it was fun to have that dialogue about the sound and he did like three different ones and i had recorded different sounds of trees and stuff that i sent him. my friends, Paula, Ella, Susanna and Molly, modelled for me in the videos and agreed to be filmed for the images i had in mind of the human body meeting the elements, and also helped me film myself. i am very lucky to have these people in my life and it feels beautiful they were all involved in some way in the project :’) i get by with a little help from my friends fr fr…

i am sorry if i sound like a person who thinks they won an oscar or something but i am just so happy that i am done, happy to see it all come together, and super happy i completed my bfa, doing this whole education without any student loans or funding, it has at times been tough. i have had to work pretty hard, working daytime in school and working as a waitress in the evenings. i dont want to make a big fuss but ending this era feels a bit emotional, and there have been times where i really doubted myself and what i can do. so getting it together was kind of a big deal for me. and i cant pretend to be cool about it sorry..

anyways the work will be exhibited together with that of all of the other graduates at the spring exhibition of Konstfack, 13th-24th of may! will post the videos after.

p.s now i have my life back! so i am happy about that also d.s