Exhibition 'Junk Journals'

The fake archive, which is the central motif of this exhibition, is composed of recycled materials. This recycling concerns all the materials and processes used in the 'Junk Journals' project. Segments of memories in photocopies, test prints, and discarded pieces of furniture and materials that make up the surface are joined in a new context through surrogate graphic techniques. Mimetically recognizable landscapes and architectures appear in patches with the aim of conveying the frustration caused by inaccurate and fragmented memory. The worn surface or dirty and torn paper, onto which an image from the past is imprecisely transferred, smells musty and looks old, suggesting or implying some unjustified respect, due to apparent historical or sentimental importance. By evoking the authenticity of experience but not providing the depth of memorial meaning, some of these works such as the 4 windows from the 'How Long Is Now?' series or 'Baker Beach' (2023) and 'Full Metal Blanket' (2024) remain ambiguous or indeterminate. Instead of achieving the status of an aesthetic object enjoyed like a classical painting or graphic on the wall, they remain stumbling in that struggle as the viewer notices detached front doors or bed frames hanging on the wall. Instead of being a document, the result has an unstable status. On the other hand, a few works like 'Altar of the Earth' (2023), 'Archetypal Environments - Forest' (2018) or 'Shore' (2018) present the same autobiographical content rearranged and collage again, so that in the final appearance, they retain only an image of collective memory and familiar archetypes. The need for cataloging and collecting as fundamental archival procedures unites this intersection of artistic research. The short-lived, satisfying feeling of possessing information and documents seems like control over ephemerality and unconvincing experiences that make me human and slipped out of consciousness the moment they were noticed. They are not before me to manipulate them - before me is the junk that makes up my journals.