Unveiling the Traces of my Own Shadows, Himera x Jecza Gallery, Timișoara, 28.08.2024–03.10.2025, Curator Moldovan Gabriela

Abstract

The exhibition titled Unveiling the Traces of my Own Shadows was opened on 28.08.2024, in Timișoara in the space of Himera Gallery in collaboration with Jecza Gallery. It follows an open call that resulted in the selection of ten artists, whose works were featured in this summer show. The exhibition harmonious­ly brings together different media, such as painting, ceramics and installation, the artists behind these works are Ana Maria Ștefan, Bandi Szidonia, Cristina Chirilă, Cristina Dimuș, Diana Oană, Paul Darius Moldovan, Luana Cloșcă, Diana Popuț, Viktoriia Rozentsveih, Tania Șimonca, all under the careful curation of Gabriela Moldovan. The linking element that coagulates the work of the artists, differing mostly in technique, is the idea of the “absent present”, a concept that originated from Sartre’s work Being and Nothingness, where the following phrase is mentioned, which would become the motto of the curatorial text: “The absent present is not merely an illusion or an effect of perceptual blindness, and materiality does not present the absolute truth”. In short, the exhibition itself creates a “portrait” of something that does not exist, the absence of the figurative creating an absent character, a metaphysical figure that challenges the viewer to go beyond the superficial barriers of reality and look around them for those aspects that can imprint the Self. It is important to mention that this exhibition had as its starting point the rigorous process of selecting an appropriate title, with the curator emphasizing that the choice of a suggestive title had a significant impact on the entire creative process. It deliberately provided direction and coherence in the development of the theme and the reading of the works on display. She compared this process to that of an architect who systematically starts with the foundation of a structure and builds successively, with the ultimate goal of realizing a coherent and harmonious whole, in which each element integrates optimally into the whole. Thus, the name of the exhibition Unveiling the traces of my own shadows is relevant to the whole concept, referring to the idea of the rebirth of an almost mythical character, composed of several distinct fragments, this entity being captured by the use of the word “shadow”. Further, the possessive pronoun alludes to the idea of individuality, through which each artist can find himself. In short, what is fundamental to this exhibition is the curator’s incipient suggestion of where we should direct our perspective, that is, by finding the traces, that absent outline, that finds its contours in the human consciousness.