REMEMBRANCE

Recent Work by Vera Schnekenburger

from May, 2019

Viewable 24 hours a day

Gallery U   9206 95th Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T6C 1Z7

ARTIST STATEMENT:

My main areas of focus are sculpture, painting, and printmaking; in sculpture I address abstraction and formal qualities, while in painting and printmaking I investigate the concept of the mundane and the illusory nature of memory.

In ‘Roots’ I explore false and lost memories. As a middle-aged woman, the idea of memory loss is a definite concern. My sister, Sandra, is a similar age to me and, as we age, our childhood memories of trauma and loss of loved ones are fading and becoming more distant. We are both scared of forgetting. In order to explore memory loss, I stage arrowroots, organic objects that wrinkle and wither, in remembered scenes and photograph them. Through various printing techniques, such as lithography, etching, and digital printing, I illustrate not only the loss of memory but also the search to remember better. The inclusion of digital imagery signals a reliance on how photographs help us to remember.

I collaborated with my sister in Germany by sending her the arrowroots I use in my photographs and asked her to also photograph them so that I can interrogate the memories we share. I constantly revise my plates: tinting, erasing, adding lights and bringing in darks. Seldom I consider a plate finished; very much like my memory, my plates require constant revision.

About the artist:

Vera Schnekenburger is a recent Visual Arts graduate of University of Alberta in Edmonton. Originally from Germany, she is proficient in a variety of media, including painting, printmaking, and sculpture.