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Algae Odyssey: Ana Kesselring at the National Museum of Natural History and Science

 

In the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory of the National Museum of Natural History and Science, algae and the female body are the main subject of Ana Kesselrings new solo exhibition. Entitled Algae Odyssey, the artist presents ceramic sculptures and a photographic installation, showing a vital union between the human female body and oceanic species.

The odyssey expands throughout the laboratory. The works emerge as objects of study, in perfect harmony with the site where they are exhibited: a natural history museum, dedicated to the study and cataloguing of the countless species in nature. The benches, drawers and showcases allow the ceramic pieces to be displayed. At the centre of the laboratory is Algae Odyssey(2022), the photographic installation that lends its name to the exhibition.

On the first bench we see Ophelia desmembrada (2022), five glazed ceramic pieces that correspond to different parts of a body, possibly that of Ophelia, a character from Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare. In Shakespeare’s work, Ophelia enters a state of profound sadness when her father is murdered by her lover, Hamlet. She succumbs to the weight of life and dies at a very young age. Ophelia falls into the river while picking flowers, slowly drowning as she sings[1]. Her tragic fate has made her a mythological figure, part of the imagination of countless artists. Ana Kesselring presents here fragments of Ophelia’s body, a body with organic matter and merging with the natural elements of an aquatic environment.

The bodies in Algae Odyssey always appear in fragments, separated from the other parts that compose them; we see feet, hands, forearms, legs or breasts. On the one hand, the fragmented bodies indicate a ceramic dissection for a study of the human anatomy, displayed on benches to be inspected. On the other, the pieces kept in showcases resemble religious relics, as if they were parts of the body of a sacred figure. The title of some pieces suggests the representation of reliquaries; in Relicário 1 (2019), the artist builds a kind of tower with a hand at the top. In this display case, we also see a foot and a breast; all three pieces are white, but are covered with traces of celestial blue paint, symbolically tied to religious and spiritual transcendence[2].  Kesselring’s narrative of the body is based on science and spirituality, the tangible and the immaterial. And also, the fusion between body and organic matter, which is in almost every ceramic piece. In Costas marítimas (2022) or Maminha 2 (2022), the artist moulds skin and muscle, but also living organisms such as shell molluscs or coral-like sinuosities.

In the centre of the laboratory, we see the installation Algae Odyssey. There are ten photographs printed on a translucent fabric. Suspended from the ceiling and aligned, the images create superimpositions on a transparent fabric that obfuscates and, at the same time, allows one to see. Red and pink fill the first three photographs, where red algae are the leading characters. On a body, they merge with the skin that touches them. As we move through the images, the details increase, underlining the algae’s liquid textures and sinuousness. The macro perspective is established and black invades the image-fabric; hair and a body in movement appear between green and red algae. In the last images, the female body wrapped in seaweed becomes clear. Cold and pale, the woman we see has her body submerged in water. Only part of her face is sticking out, reminiscent of a classic depiction of Ophelia, such as that by John Everett Millais.

Ana Kesselring seemingly wants to emphasise the primordial memory between bodies and the ocean, recovering the connection between the womb and the remote waters that once originated life. The artist reclaims the universe of a metamorphosed body, which belonged to water, which lived in the sea or river, and which can be studied by the visitor in this setting. In a mythical and mysterious atmosphere, Algae Odyssey also presents a note about the red algae in this exhibition: they are one of the oldest species on the planet, they contributed to the origin of life by being responsible for a large part of the earth’s oxygen. [3]

Algae Odyssey by Ana Kesselring is at the National Museum of Natural History and Science until October 2, 2022.

 

 

 

 

[1] TATE. The story of ophelia – look closer. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia-n01506/story-ophelia

[2] The book of symbols. (2010). Köln; London: Taschen. page 650.

[3] Information available in the exhibition text. Algae Odyssey.

Laurinda Branquinho (Portimão, 1996) has a degree in Multimedia Art - Audiovisuals from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Universidade de Lisboa. She did an internship in the Lisbon Municipal Archive Video Library, where she collaborated with the project TRAÇA in the digitization of family videos in film format. She recently finished her postgraduate degree in Art Curatorship at NOVA/FCSH, where she was part of the collective of curators responsible for the exhibition “Na margem da paisagem vem o mundo” and began collaborating with the Umbigo magazine.

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