Gabriela Hirt

80" x 60"

Mixed media collage on canvas, diptych

CAN$4,700.00
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In “Underbelly” I am exploring belonging and exclusion as well as the relationship between German guilt and de-colonial healing in my adopted home in Canada. I believe history is enduring, manifesting in our bodies throughout generations. What has happened in the past governs present and future, ultimately defining our capacity for tolerance. This piece is looking closely at the segregating concepts of hierarchy and superiority subconsciously living in all of us. My stylized people might be antagonizing, yet they always have more in common than not. This is conveyed by their similar fabric, colour, marks and line-work. You might say, it is a lack of skin laying bare the vulnerability and woundedness of victim, perpetrator and joyful dancer alike. Questions of power imbalance are relayed by size, positioning and movement of the figures. Faces are deliberately treated ambiguously; my focus is on the language of the body which I deem not only more subtle, but also more genuine, particularly when it comes to social interactions.

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