Traces and Memories
The reciprocal collaboration of artists from different generations and working in diverse media will be presented in the context of contemporary critical discussions on several current topics such as personal and collective memories, natural and cultural heritage (both movable and immovable), historical and social change, cultural identities, etc. The exhibition will present various media: printmaking, photographs, objects and video installations, etc. The exhibition will be realised in cooperation with the invited curator: Prof. Dr. Suzana Milevska
SALT, Open Graphic Studio, Museum of City of Skopje
Violeta Čapovska SALT
July 2018, Land Print Project at the Small Lake, Pelister (altitude of 2,180 m)
In December 2019, at the Open Graphic Studio, Museum of the City of Skopje, Čapovska presents photographs, video and installation work from the latest site-specific project Salt. Salt continues Čapovska’s ongoing investigation into location of identity and ecological integrity of the lake.
The site-specific works Land Print Projects: Small Lake, Pelister (1994), I and the eye (1996) and Salt (2018) are ephemeral in nature, including interventions with various elements in and around the lake (altitude of 2,180 m)
The core idea of the Land-print Projects centres on the relationships between the self and the lake through the use of elements sourced from different geographical, cultural and historical sites and times.
Salt completes the trilogy of Land Print projects.
Revisiting the lake after 22 years have opened up new questions about the relationship between identity and nature. During the project, Čapovska uses salt mixed from Macedonia and Australia. Australia's salt lake originates from the 5 million-year-old salt Lake Crystal. Macedonian salt is a fine, culinary salt from Tuzla, purchased at the market in Gjorche Petrov, Skopje.
While tracing the edge of the lake, Čapovska pours salt with her hand and creates a white crystal line around the lake. The attempt to encircle the lake (circumference of 231,5 m) lasts 20 min but is not fully completed. In the last few metres the artist decides to return to the starting point.
The use of the salt has multitude of interpretations. The most relevant reading related to this project is of its immutability, the notion that salt is incorruptible and imperishable. It’s durability and its immunity towards decay made it an emblem of immortality, which is contradictory to eternally changeable nature and human being.
Encircling the lake with a line of salt questions the issue of conservation, and a fragile wish to protect the lake.
The artist would like to thank: Museum of the City of Skopje, Open Graphic Studio for making this exhibition possible; special thanks to Dr Suzana Milevska for her ongoing support of all three Land Print Projects, the mountaineering guide Blagoja Lazarevski for his patient guidance through the mountain Pelister; Istok Chapovski for photography, videography and editing, and Gorazd Čapovski for composing the music for the video.