"YOU WORK A LOT WITH SYMBOLISM. CAN YOU EXPLAIN SOME OF THE REOCCURRING SYMBOLS, THEIR SIGNIFICANCE, AND THEIR MEANING TO US?
Certain elements appear in my work again and again, across time and various mediums, though I don’t know if I would call it symbolism. The bomber jacket is one good example of a recurring image in my work. As teenagers, we adopted this piece of clothing because it was cool, in a collective decision to wear this military-style uniform, with its dark exterior and bright orange lining. This object was originally just a fashion choice, but as it became a part of our group identity, we gave it meaning. Much later, I began to unfold the layers of meaning in this jacket, using its image to channel its energy. As I worked, it became a shelter where I could hide and process all of these memories. It appears in various works, both in collage and installation, for example in the monumental textile sculpture The Group, where hundreds of jackets are sewn together to create an enormous shell which visitors can enter and experience. Though the image of the bomber jacket is evidence of a specific moment in space and time, I believe it speaks to broader questions that are part of the basic human experience, thinking about the construction of identity, both as an individual and as a community.
ORANGE SEEMS TO APPEAR IN MANY OF YOUR ARTWORKS. WHY DO YOU CHOOSE THIS COLOR (E.G. SMOKE GRENADES) ?
This color appeared organically in my work, as it did in my life. It is the color of the inner lining of our bomber jackets, as well as the smoke grenades that we used in the stadiums. We didn’t have a choice in the color of the smoke: we had access to these distress flares via people we knew who worked on boats, who would smuggle some of them to us. In the gray Baltic Sea, this orange makes you very visible; in the stadium, we used it as a screen of invisibility, hiding in the smoke, hiding in the crowd, sacrificing our individuality to the masses. It turned into the color of my performances, seeped into my work, but it is a completely apolitical choice, there is nothing speculative about it. This orange is the color of the neglected, and it came into my world by necessity."
