a deconstruction
of
ornamentation
:
an exploration
of the
embellishment of space
through the
interaction of jewelry and architecture
Garden of Eve was first exhibited in paper in 2020 as part of a solo exhibition, woven female landscape. Female participants contributed to the assemblage of a large wall installation of 3,000 pieces, placing a lens on the collective female experience. The body of work draws attention to the challenges contemporary women face in constructing a present-day definition of ‘womanhood’. The fleeting beauty of the flower is further preserved through the use of more permanent materials, alluding to the complex relationship between feminine and female identity.
woven female landscape, addresses the complex relationship between female and feminine identity. The work draws attention to the challenges contemporary women face in constructing a present-day definition of ‘womanhood’.
Tradition, domesticity, and sensuality of the female form are portrayed in a series of photographs of sculptures made of cloth, at once threadbare and luminous. The organic shapes reference the cultural history of being female, with beauty, purity, and ‘women’s work’ at the center. The perpetual story of the female condition is told through the white, woven shroud, chronicling topics from submission to solidarity, and making up the woven female landscape.
woven female landscape, Rgb, 2020
woven female landscape, rGb, 2020
woven female landscape, rgB, 2020
woven female landscape no.1, 2019
woven female landscape no.2, 2019
woven female landscape no.3, 2019
dissolving / re-emerging, is a self-reflection, both visually and spiritually. The female figure is portrayed as fading away and returning. It is a part of a broader body of work that addresses the complex relationship between female and feminine identity and the challenges contemporary women face in constructing a present-day definition of ‘womanhood’. Women are tasked to adjust to new realities within society, retracting and expanding as needed.
dissolving, 2020
re-emerging, 2020
rise reflects on the rising and setting light of the sun and its effect on the architecture of the rise of the humble stair; questioning one’s perspective of light vs darkness, ascent vs descent.
rise (dawn), 2019
rise (dusk), 2019
The photographs in the presence series result from a public performance calling women to join body and voice in a shared experience. Dressed in white, female protagonists walk through mist, quietly humming, intersecting each other’s paths. White attire references historical societal expectations for female purity in conflict with aspirations and hope for a new order. Collective humming becomes the acoustic symbol of female unity, victorious through a common voice, unheard though present, in these photographs.
The imagery takes the viewer from the invisible to a presence, or a quiet force, as women shift the contemporary social construct of gender inequality. As a narrative unfolds, we witness searching, discovery, ascension, and triumph. Through this photographic essay, we experience time suspended, linking our present female story to that of our history, giving rise to our future.
* credits: fogxflo: Fujiko Nakaya; video footage: Yu-Wen Wu and Meg Bergstand
presence, experience no.1, 2018
presence, experience no.2, 2018
presence, experience no.3, 2018
presence, experience no.4, 2018
presence, experience no.5, 2018
looking is about seeking the invisible, searching for the undetectable. Curiosity, as the spirit of inquiry, encourages us to see the unnoticed.
looking (no.9), 2017
looking (no.1), 2017
looking (no.2), 2017
looking (no.3), 2017
looking (no.4), 2017
looking (no.5), 2017
looking (no.6), 2017
looking (no.7), 2017
looking (no.8), 2017
Crossing the boundaries of the plane through sculpture, material is transformed through folds and bends into new physical constructs. With light and shadow as drawing tools, I forge relationships between space and time.
Paper Landscape, 2014
Paper Garden_blue, 2013
untitled, 2016
emptiness is a photographic series that began as an inquiry into the affects of nature on what we experience. The project evolved over several weeks with overexposed photographic film providing little information, though an occasion for personal interpretation of emotion provoked by environment.
In the sometime series, we are transported to a place that may have existed before our time or a time yet to come.
sometime (no.3), 2012
sometime (no.1), 2012
sometime (no.5), 2012
Looking for the minimum threshold of shifts in tones of white space, the series Approaching Zero explores converging colors and forms in their relationship with architecture and light.
Approaching Zero (door+arc), 2012
Approaching Zero (no.3), 2012
Approaching Zero (no.5), 2012
Within an interior space that is void of its inhabitants, there exists a stillness. Amidst the solitude of walls, light travels without human intervention. Shadows form, uncovering the quiet and the unseen in overlooked angles and corners.
stillness (door+slot), 2011
stillness (door), 2010
stillness (door+hinge), 2011
© 2023 Linda Pagani