Laura Siragher
My first visit to Seville in February of 2019 came at a point where I was going through creative and emotional burnout, and dealing with the last endless throes of winter. Seville, in contrast, was warm, bright, and full of colour and beauty.
Avellis (an anagram of Sevilla) is built from imagination, photographic reference and memories - taking aspects of Seville and viewing them through a lens of magical realism. The city’s nebulous connection to space, time and reality became all too relevant with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to travel restrictions, the Seville that exists in our world is currently no more ‘real’ to many people than Avellis - its half-baked, incomplete twin. My own equally nebulous relationship with gender fuelled the story of Eyrie - a visitor to Avellis, and a person split or repeated, depending on your interpretation.
COVID-19 restrictions aside, it feels like a logical conclusion to present my work around this digitally-built city in a digitally-built exhibition, with each "room" showing a different facet of my explorations.
Screenshot 2020-09-21 at 09.43.16
Exhibition View 2
Laura Siragher - Exhibition2
Room 1 - Framework of Avellis. The digital bones, the uncanny not-city, as first explored.
Laura Siragher - Exhibition3
Room 2 - Avellis Views. The city alive and in colour, swarming with the parakeets that serve as the eyes of the Lady of Marten, watching every citizen.
Laura Siragher - Exhibition4
Room 3 - Ephemera of Avellis. The Lady of Marten in fresco, the oranges, tile and fabric samples.
Laura Siragher - Exhibition5
Room 4 - Eyrie in Avellis. A visitor wakes up in the middle of the city with their hands stained red.