REMAINS. Marina Kailis & Marcia Espinosa

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1 REMAINS Marina Kailis & Marcia Espinosa

2 COVER: Marina Kailis Offering Babies Series, 2017 Porcelain and Raku fired clay 16 x 13 x 11cm each approx. 8 July - 23 July

3 ON W H A T REMAINS It has been said that we die not once, but three times. Our first death [is] when our bodies cease to function; when our hearts no longer beat of their own accord, when our gaze no longer has depth or weight, when the space we occupy slowly loses its meaning. The second death comes when the body is lowered into the ground, returned to mother earth, out of sight. The third death, the most definitive death, is when there is no one left alive to remember us. 1 Though associated with Latin American cultures, particularly through incarnations of Los Dias de los Muertos, the conception of death as three levels of existence speaks of universal concerns. Death lurks and lingers across cultural imaginations, fueled by our human capacity for self-awareness and recognition of our finite mortality. Metered out over several stages, the transition between life and death might appear to be prolonged and resisted, although hopelessly inevitable. The three deaths might also be perceived differently, though. Rather than a mono-directional shift between certain states, the idea of passing through phases of existence caters to hybrid complications. Life, death, and in-between, become fluid and lacking in discrete boundaries. Death can be kept alive in life, while life s zeal can equally persist beyond physical death. The life/death dynamic is thus ambiguous and unknowable. Together, in Remains, Marcia Espinosa and Marina Kailis explore the material and immaterial residues of this slippage between life and death. They offer a liminal space occupied by objects that beckon stillness and contemplation, yet remain fleeting and impermanent. Their icons crafted in an attempt to secure longevity draw upon diverse personal and religious symbolisms, eliciting familiar but strange incarnations of ritualised objects. An impulse to anchor memory in figures that can outlive mortal experiences has produced work that is invested with life and energy; yet as forms that speak of death and passing, the hybrid objects elicit a most haunting uncanny effect. 1 Dr. Rachel Shinnar, El Dia De Los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Appalachian State University, 2005, accessed June 2017,

4 The First Death Espinosa and Kailis ceramic forms evoke the first bodily death in form and material suggestion. While some of the forms act as effigies, others recall the body through fleshiness and skin. Some pieces suggest skin that is marked and scarred, or unnaturally smooth, while others retain the touch of the artists and the gestures of making by hand. The fragility of the fine ceramic contrasts sharply with the warmth and malleability of living flesh: unglazed porcelain and its chalky bone-like materiality particularly embodies the recognisable but distanced realm of death. Ceramic figs and persimmons, ripe and fecund, are frozen in a state of predecay, simultaneously live and dead. While we cannot touch the forms as visitors, our minds traverse these traces, replicating their sensations. Our bodies, our skin and ability to touch are transferred from physicalised states to the immaterial. Though still and inert, the vulnerability of the material reminds us of the transitory nature of our work. These physical markers of lived experience, like our own bodies, are subject to time and decay. The Second Death Alchemy endows funerary processes, whether burial or cremation, and their rituals with rich symbolism. Transformations between material and immaterial states echo the enigmatic or magical transition between life and death: the visual and sensory qualities of an alchemical shift provide an evocative allegory for interpreting changes in our existence. As an alchemical process itself, ceramics is an ideal medium for exploring these ideas. Using minerals, metals and clay tilled from the earth, Espinosa and Kailis ceramics repurpose our elemental surroundings and acknowledge a kinship between the human and non-human. The earth that feeds and nurtures us, and dissolves us on our return, forms part of the human circuit of existence. A ceramic figure is not a separate or subordinate entity in this way, but crafted in a symbiotic relationship with the material world. By anchoring their work in earth, primordial and generative, the resulting forms both recognise and resist death. Fire, ash, and funeral pyres are also evoked throughout Remains. The firing process of the raku earthenware lives on in its subsequent figures, bearing residues of soot or a metallic iridescent luster. Charred wood and flecks of gold and other metals also suggest the remaining materials after a fire, where an apparent absence is suggested by the singed remnants. The aromatic burning of incense also transports the visitor, evoking ceremony and elemental transitions, from what is seen and beholden to what dissipates and slips beyond our physical grasp.

5 The Final Death Though Remains centres upon physical forms, immaterial suggestions of life and death are also prominent. The accumulation of forms, clustered around the space, intimates shrines and reliquary: amassed, the physical things assert their presence in an effort to counter the inevitability of absence. Arguably, this effort also heightens the presence of absence, in actual space and in the imagination. Ritualistic behaviours and repetitive practices are also emulated throughout the installation. Through their quantity, the objects suggest multiple occasions of commemoration and veneration. Though the individual objects can represent an embodied memory or ideal for their maker or beholder, the forms do not contain memory themselves. They are facilitators of an exchange, and their invested meaning is contingent on interaction. Like a graveyard of tombstones, whose inscriptions have worn away with time and whose devoted relatives have long passed, the figures can be markers of a forgotten language without interpretation. Remains is a tribute to the no longer remembered. It is as much a sign of futility and surrender as it is a practice of resistance and survival. The deathly objects await the enaction of memory and purpose, the rekindling and embrace of their living embers. Catherine Landro

6 Marina Kailis Heads Series (Darling and Dear), 2017 Raku fired clay 24 x 20 x 20cm each

7 Marcia Espinosa Reminiscences Series, 2017 Raku fired clay, Stoneware and found objects Various sizes Marcia Espinosa and Marina Kailis Selection of artist works for Remains Exhibition, 2017 Porcelain, Raku fired clay, Pewter and found objects 50 x 45 cm

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9 Marcia Espinosa and Marina Kailis Remains Shrine, 2017 Porcelain, Raku fired clay and found objects

10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The artists would like to acknowledge: The support and help of their families, friends, the staff of Paper Mountain and a special mention for Njalikwa Chongwe (North Metro TAFE). Particular thanks needs to be given to Catherine Landro for her beautiful catalogue essay. Paper Mountain would like to thank their magnificent Gallery Attendants: Gabby Loo, Aya Jones, Ben Yaxley, Carolina Koszelski, Karoline Forsberg, Emeline McGrath, Keely Sheahan, Kate Thresher, Laura Vermeulen, Lizzie Bruk, Nathan Tang, Jessican Frances Scallan, Jordanna Armstrong, Nathan Viney, Stephanie de biasi, Belinda Birchall, Shannon Harbron, Stephanie Gilhooley, Tatiane Van Den Akker, Alisha Versteegen, Claudia Minutillo, Devan Job, Danyon Levi, Natalie Blom, Claudia Hogan, Teresa Watts, Claire Taylor, Lucy Leech, Felicity Eustance, Shauna Goh, Phoebe Mulcahy

11 Paper Mountain is an artist-run initiative co-directed by: Johnson Doan Jenny Scott Daniel O'Connor The Operations Team: Johnson Doan General Manager Jenny Scott Creative Associate Daniel O'Connor Creative Associate Krista Tanuwibawa Communications Manager Matilda Chaney Marketing Officer Ryan Suckling Media Officer Mark Robertson Graphic Designer Mark Wahlsten Graphic Designer Melissa Mercer Marketing Projects Assistant Kelsey Cross Front of House Manager Kayla MacGillivray Events Manager Sara Ann Lin Assistant Events Manager Belinda Hermawan Studio Manager Catherine Landro Gallery Manager Jenn Garland Assistant Gallery Manager Design by Mark Wahlsten All photos courtesy of the artist. Printed by Paper Mountain is on Noongar land. Upstairs, 267 William St, Northbridge papermountain.org.au

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