Saleema Sheik MFA

"Ruined architecture has always fascinated me – that someone once lived here, the events that took place in the space. It is this passing of time in an architectural space and its aura, that has inspired my investigation of the notion of transition.
Uncertainty is a very uncomfortable state, neither here nor there. What will happen next? My thesis revolves around the theories of the two anthropologists Arnold Van Gennep and Victor Turner, which are related to liminality. A liminal state is the place, where ambiguity is given birth to. Ambiguity is the one facets of transition that I could connect with my fascination about the architectural ruins. There is a human connection between these two notions and how they amalgamate and become something new while belonging to none and all at the same time.
Therefore, much of our past phase is diminished away leaving behind fragments that are integrated into our new life. […] Many of the structures in my jewellery are reflective of these architectural fragments. The archaic feel of the pieces reminds one of the ruins of old structures but also relates to the ruins of ones past that were left behind during their transition. These ruins of each transitional phases are layered one over the other in my pieces."