Photo credit: Denis Farley/OBORO, Montreal
Follow me on Instagram! Get picture updates from my ongoing research, inspiration, and work in progress! https://www.instagram.com/shyra.desouza/
Artist Statement
As the eye falls upon desirable material objects, the mind enters into a haptic process of touching the form from a distance, becoming a willing participant in the process of seduction, and generating a kind of understanding of the object as culturally predetermined. As human life is lived within the construct of various, layered communities, so is human understanding of the world experienced as a set of agreed upon rules and interpretations. I seek to disrupt and manipulate this intersubjective foundation of experience in order to draw attention to the process of meaning-making as it relates to contemporary material culture.
Much of my work is focused on the challenge of creating both a critical distance for the viewer of discarded, mass-produced objects I use in the work, while simultaneously drawing from, and building upon the extreme sensuality and allure of these objects. The intent is to remove the viewer from metaphorical and representational systems of thinking. I integrate multiple closed forms (usually second-hand, contemporary home décor items) into larger, open, layered, configurations. I place the resulting forms within a theatrical context that prompts a self-guided process of meaning-making in the viewer. The somewhat uncanny sensation of these reconfigured, less representational forms is intended to generate a sense of suspicion or disbelief of the form’s representational power.
In accomplishing these artistic goals, the viewer becomes a mandatory part of the work in that the actual artwork occurs where the art object and viewer intersect. My central method is that of collapsing reverence for these objects by indulging in them, heightening their effect. I personally experience their seductive characteristics, as I undertake an organic, adductive/reductive process in order to rearrange the objects into highly provocative forms. The resulting work accesses a form of visual communication akin to pseudo-science, mysticism, mythology, and other psychological phenomena. I wish to trigger a sort of cognitive equilibrium in the viewer where belief and non-belief are forever suspended.
As the eye falls upon desirable material objects, the mind enters into a haptic process of touching the form from a distance, becoming a willing participant in the process of seduction, and generating a kind of understanding of the object as culturally predetermined. As human life is lived within the construct of various, layered communities, so is human understanding of the world experienced as a set of agreed upon rules and interpretations. I seek to disrupt and manipulate this intersubjective foundation of experience in order to draw attention to the process of meaning-making as it relates to contemporary material culture.
Much of my work is focused on the challenge of creating both a critical distance for the viewer of discarded, mass-produced objects I use in the work, while simultaneously drawing from, and building upon the extreme sensuality and allure of these objects. The intent is to remove the viewer from metaphorical and representational systems of thinking. I integrate multiple closed forms (usually second-hand, contemporary home décor items) into larger, open, layered, configurations. I place the resulting forms within a theatrical context that prompts a self-guided process of meaning-making in the viewer. The somewhat uncanny sensation of these reconfigured, less representational forms is intended to generate a sense of suspicion or disbelief of the form’s representational power.
In accomplishing these artistic goals, the viewer becomes a mandatory part of the work in that the actual artwork occurs where the art object and viewer intersect. My central method is that of collapsing reverence for these objects by indulging in them, heightening their effect. I personally experience their seductive characteristics, as I undertake an organic, adductive/reductive process in order to rearrange the objects into highly provocative forms. The resulting work accesses a form of visual communication akin to pseudo-science, mysticism, mythology, and other psychological phenomena. I wish to trigger a sort of cognitive equilibrium in the viewer where belief and non-belief are forever suspended.
