Collage and photographic Installation
Dimensions variable
Produced during the International Art Symposium Alanica (August 2013), organised by National Centre for Contemporary Art (NCCA), Vladikavkaz, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russian Federation
Curated by Beral Madra

The Suspended Real is the result of archival research conducted in the national library of North Ossetia-Alania, for unearthing visual metaphors implicit in the construction of local national narratives. The outcome is a collage installation based on images of Soviet photo albums, which are juxtaposed with my own photographs of decorative patterns and street furniture in Vladikavkaz. The archival images serve as a canvas for going back to a medieval visual imaginary, while the collaging maps them into the current public spaces of the city. A sense of unreality is cultivated through the metaphor of suspension and the use of the ironic, the surreal and the absurd. Re-decorating images of the past domesticates the image, revealing a female subjectivity and the possibility of transformation inherent in the ‘others’ point-of-view.

Collection National Centre for Contemporary Art (NCCA), Vladikavkaz, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russian Federation