Nikita Kavryzhkin and Nga Ching Ko awarded with the MARZEE-graduate Prize 2021

Therefore, the main and desired vector, in which I am developing my work is the creation of sublime atmospheres. The most attractive, and the key factor in achieving this effect would be the image of close-to-distant, in all its manifestations, starting directly from physical farness, of distance and ending with time distance (images of different epochs reverberating in the space of our consciousness), and the image of distance as in of cultic inaccessibility, mystery and obscurity. The main characteristic of the atmosphere of the sublime, would be the ability to generate intimacy through distance. The constant loss of oneself in space, both physical and mentally simulated (the distant) while at the same time identifying oneself by casting one's gaze on being and existence (the close) is the principle by which the atmosphere of the sublime functions.

As an inclusion in Hong Kong, the preconception of the words “Chinese” and “China” lead my national identity to a political position, “I love China, I am Chinese”, are political statements, it can be a truth for somebody, meanwhile it can be a compromise for others.

Some people emphasise their love for China from time to time in order to be included in the team. This kind of manifestation is an empty speech to me. Inspired by this, I made the sentence in my pieces in a superficial and meaningless way. The round shape and the movement are made to repeat the sentences endlessly like brainwashing. Stamping is like putting all the messages together by force.

The handwriting in my pieces is similar to how I learn to write and also the punishment that I had in my primary school life. Repeatedly writing the same word can only learn how to write the word but can not learn about the deeper meaning of the word.</p>
<p>The repetitions of information made persuasive words. When the bias constantly repeats in our daily life, people can be more blind to it.

Technology is an essential aspect of human nature. From the earliest stone tools to fire, from the wheel to the motor, from electricity to the telephone, from the personal computer to the internet. It now allows us to extend not only human physical and mental faculties, but also it extends the material world, interactions, and physical places.
Inevitably, technology influences and reshapes our relationship with the world.
My source of inspiration is the hybrid reality we live in, where our daily experiences are partly digital and partly analogue.

All my works are the result of a combination of the ancient art of stone carving and the use of 3D modelling software. Through a dynamic process, I brought my works to life in the digital world and materialized them in the tangible world, establishing a dialogue between the two realities.

The resulting pieces come from a retrospective analysis of the conflict in the timeframe between 1950 and 2015, which exposes the anatomy of living violence. Referring to its movement as a continuum, in which each act of aggression derives from the circumstances that make it possible and simultaneously transfigure human structures. To approximate to violence depiction signs is to meet violence itself. And through its identification, the deconstruction of the body occurs. The body is the fundamental object, thoroughly diminished, but even when it doesn’t exist, its essence remains, and it can be measured and experienced. This research is a claim for recognition. Reflecting on the portrait of war that political art offers, which can reveal the mirror of memory to discover a national identity.

The practical part of my thesis is based on my perception of death in the current situation in Mexico. Where human remains, bones and the feeling of an open wound that does not heal become the inspiration for my work, leaving aside the popular symbols of death in Mexico (Catrinas and sugar skulls) and the joyful spirit of the day of the death. Through these elements my work becomes a reflection of the crude reality that is lived in the country. “Hermanas” for example is a remembrance of all of the women that have been killed in Mexico just because they were a woman. Omtl is a stylized reflection of the human bone traces that have been found in the clandestine graves in the country.

The point of symbols is to ease the way of connecting with the underlying message. This is a symbol of my skin, which makes it my skin. The skin that I have painstakingly grown over the years of my life, as a person, as a woman, as an artist. The scars and uneven bits and mistakes that you see here are mine. The sutures are mine. It has grown into me just as I have grown it on myself: my blood is its blood. It’s heavy and stifling and presses a bit too hard when I inhale, like a tight but suffocating embrace, a promise of safety in exchange for numbness.

I grew this because I was told I needed it - part of me still believes that I do, because this world is scary, and to be open and vulnerable means to invite suffering. But to lock yourself away means a slow, joyless, lonely, suffocating life that is indiscernible from death, and, to me personally, that’s the worse option.

So you’ve grown yourself a thicker skin: what next?

To stay isolated or to open up. I choose to open up, to peel it off, to hold it in my hands. This is the weight that I carry, this is my misguided pity for myself, this is what I grew to fight my fears. But it’s only alive as long as it’s grown into me; like any removed organ, it dies without me. Hold it in your hands, if you can: feel its weight. This is the weight that we all carry.

Looking at society, I consider the role of the jewellery artist the one of an angler, the one who looks for special ways, motifs and actions to tempt, lure and who finally catches “the big fish” (customer). The jewellery, “the bait”, is created with the hope for a successful catches and in order “to snag the prey”. To provoke a smart fish to bite the sharp hook, the bait itself has to have the appropriate seductive power. Therefore, and in order to provoke a strong attraction to the observer of my works, I have aimed to emphasize on the notion of curiosity. Each of my pieces represents a small situation, which may recall stories to the viewers, still leaving them space to discover their own. I create my works from different materials and shapes, even with smooth surfaces, so that people want to touch and feel them. Their shapes speak for themselves, which makes the observers become meditative and let their own emotions and fantasies to unfold. Last but not least, each work invites to a metaphorical reflection.

Being a tool for the art of seduction, I consider my jewellery and objects to become an essential part of the image we like to build from ourselves. Much more than making us reflect on new aspects, they are to me complementary to this notion and reveal what makes us human and what gives each of us a sense of identity.