veil of memories
a veil of memories - Die Zeit legt ihren Schleier darüber
Wandobjekt
Genähtes Vlies mit getrockneten Schalen der Passionsfrucht
Wandvlies, 270x52cm
2022
… a veil of memories …
Memories, lived experiences, and embodied emotions, both joyful and painful ones, condense into traces we carry within ourselves. Time lays its veil over them, softening and obscuring, yet never fully erasing it. These sedimented memories remain present within us: at times fragile and tender, at times dense and resistant. They inscribe themselves into our being and shape who we have become.
The work of the artist Elke Reis examines how perception is shaped and experienced, how the things that surround us act upon us, and how we, in turn, allow ourselves to be affected. What is it that we perceive—and how does perception transform into experience? Where does the act of seeing end, and where does the act of being defined by what is seen begin?
In her painterly work, she confronts the viewer with monochromatic colour fields that open a space for projection and introspection. In veil of memories, she translates these questions into material and symbolic form, addressing processes of self-perception and self-representation. We encounter ourselves as beings shaped by socio-cultural structures as well as deeply individual experiences and attributions—layers that become inscribed within us and are outwardly carried, sometimes more visibly, sometimes more subtly.
veil of roses
a veil of roses - … eine Biografie der Erinnerungen, fragile Zeitzeugen
Wandobjekt
Genähtes Vlies mit Polaroidprints
Wandvlies, 280x75cm
2023
Objektkasten
Getrocknete Rosenblüten
30x30x10cm
2023
… a veil of roses …
… a document of memories, fragile witnesses of time
Unlike passion fruit peels, dried rose petals become extremely brittle and fall apart at the slightest touch. They are as intangible as certain memories. What remains is, here as well, merely the memory of what once was. Photographs become symbols of remembrance, yet only for those who can connect them with lived and felt experience.
For years, the artist has been collecting roses and letting them dry. Just as dust gradually settles on the dried petals, so too does the veil of forgetting settle upon our memories. In the end, only a photograph remains—and it, too, becomes an object of art, developing its own distinct aesthetic.
Yet while the photograph captures a single moment, a singular spatial and temporal perspective, the process of decay continues within the object box: the memory of blooming roses fades, indistinctly; the scent fades as well. Real objects remain, but only a sense of memory is left behind: real objects but only a sense of memory left.