#57 Lesbos

Lesvos is a five-panel painting installation. The first four panels must be placed 35 cm above the floor. The last panel must be placed directly on the floor on the accompanying support boards.

The different panels are titled individually. Panel 1 - Molyvos, Panel 2 - Kara Tepe, Panel 3 - Moria, Panel 4 - Skala Sikamineas, Panel 5 - Korakas. The names are camps and landing sites for refugees.
 

This work belong to the painting series "Inter" which depicts islands, shores, horisontlines and such. Meetings between different modes of materiality.
The motives of islands and archipelagos relates to the subjects detachment from the surrounding reality. As islands in a sea. The subject is according to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, by definition detached - "a reflection in otherness within at itself". It is precisely by observing from the outside, by separating itself from the environment, that its status as subject arises.
On the other hand, the island-motive also evokes the famous quote of John Locke -"No man is an island". In fact, every human being is connected underneath the surface, and we can´t exist without each other. Humanism and empathy is, in the wake of the present global refugee crises is, of utmost importance.

The installation was made after I´ve been working as a volunteer on the greek island Lesvos in 2015. It is a response to the dire situations the refugees are met with, when trying to to reach a safe haven in Europe. Seeking asylum is a basic human right, and it is my opinion that nobody should be denied the opportunity to safe travels whatever their reasons.

Sign is an array of works that are more or less vaguely is resembling phenomena in reality. They are not representing specific things or places but utilises how perception is always searching for specific shapes, which is related to different categories in the language of the mind.