Annelies Štrba's Life Dreams

A press release from the Brontë Parsonage Museum concerning an upcoming exhibition of Annelies Štrba (more information about the artist on previous posts):

MY LIFE DREAMS:
ANNELIES ŠTRBA AT BRONTË PARSONAGE MUSEUM

An exhibition of new work by Swiss artist Annelies Štrba will go on show at the Brontë Parsonage Museum on Friday 1 August 2008. The exhibition will be opened by Christoph Grunenberg, director of Tate Liverpool.

‘My Life Dreams’ is a series of digitally-manipulated images in response to the Brontës and the Parsonage, displayed throughout the period rooms of the museum. The exhibition is funded by Arts Council England and forms part of the Brontë Parsonage Museum’s contemporary arts programme.

‘My Life Dreams’ takes inspiration from Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, and the illustrations for the 1935 edition of the novel by the artist Balthus. Annelies Štrba portrays a magical and entirely feminine world, in which her daughters and granddaughters (always central to Štrba’s work) appear as ethereal figures suspended in dream-like landscapes.

The series of tiny works will be displayed imaginatively throughout the Brontë Parsonage Museum, placed in spaces within the period rooms and amongst the Brontës’ own possessions.

‘My Life Dreams’ will be on show at the Brontë Parsonage Museum until 31st October 2008 and then transfers to The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin.

“We are tremendously excited to be working with Annelies Štrba and this exhibition continues the museum’s programming of bold visual arts projects. Annelies Štrba‘s images visualise her own emotional response to the Brontës’ radical creativity and these vibrant images, placed amongst the Brontës possessions in this way, create powerful connections between the imaginative worlds of the Brontës and Štrba’s own contemporary artistic practice.” (Jenna Holmes, Arts Officer, Brontë Parsonage Museum)

Annelies Štrba’s work has been inspired by a diverse range of locations and subjects, including her own life in Melide, Switzerland, the earthquake-stricken city of Kobe, the gloom of Auschwitz and the Cottingley Fairies. She has exhibited widely in recent years throughout Europe and the USA. Her work has been shown at, amongst others; James McCoy Gallery, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague; European Museum of Photography, Paris; Tate Gallery, Liverpool and Barbican Centre, London.

Annelies Štrba is represented by Frith Street Gallery, London.

On Metro.co.uk we can read an interview with the artist:

When did you first become interested in the Brontës?
About 20 years ago, I found out about the life stories of the Brontës and I was fascinated. When I came to England in 1995, I went to Haworth, and since then I've been back five times. The Brontë sisters wanted to be someone at a time when it was difficult to be strong women. It was the same for me.

Did the idea of the Brontës' world being a world of women appeal to you?
It was very important to me - those three girls with their brother Branwell and their father on the outside. I'm very interested in their own stories, as well as their writing: the women, alone in their rooms, writing these romantic stories. I'm rather like that: I'm not outgoing, I prefer to stay at home.

How did you become an artist?
I take photos of my daughters - and now, my granddaughters - all the time, but at first I didn't want to be an artist, or show those pictures to anyone. But after I'd been doing it for 20 years, the director from the art museum in Basel saw them, and three months later he put on an exhibition.

Why is your family such an intrinsic part of your work?
I think families are very strange and difficult. My world is art. Without art, I could never have been married, or had a family; if I didn't have art, there would be nothing for me.

Which is your favourite Brontë novel?
Wuthering Heights. My own love stories always used to be a little bit like that. (Interview by Tina Jackson)

EDIT: More in The Telegraph & Argus / Brontë Parsonage Blog.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Brontë Parsonage Museum