Videos
- Emma Safir
- Madrid 2015, Arnhem 2020, 2022
- Digital collage printed on silk, neoprene, pine, upholstery foam, silk thread, flashe paint
- 28 x 18 x 1.5 in
- Inv: MM22F11.01
For the last several years, Emma Safir has explored connections between real and imagined memory, mediated through photography. Building a photo archive of spaces that she does not have physical access to, Safir captures when areas are blocked by curtains, windows, other buildings, or fences. Stretching, layering, and sewing these images in modular ways, Safir creates soft objects that pixelate a specific location, both named and unnamed. The works call to mind the fractured understanding of specific events. Enhancing this dissonance is her strategy of both layerings of the silk image and neoprene material and photographic digital collage work, which generate a moiré effect. In this optical illusion, lines and images are superimposed on another, resulting in a strange, wavy pattern. These mixed-media sculptures with varying volumes resemble upholstered furniture or television. The works hang and lean, floating just enough to emanate a glow back onto the wall. Safir's practice plays with our perception of the object and transience of memories through material manipulation, illustrating surreal perceptions that replicate the dazed delusion of a late evening.