Explore the Exhibition
Sharka Bosakova acknowledges the Turrbal, Jagera and Quandamooka peoples, the traditional custodians of the Brisbane and Moreton region, and recognise their continuous connection to culture, community and Country.
UnMasked
UnMasked is a creative collaboration of Sharka Bosakova, Mark Bahnisch, Thomas Oliver, Golda Guido, Megan Janet White + RAW Bodies, Paul Young (Orthotyp-a) and Robert Lort (Black Cactus).
We are extremely grateful to Arts Queensland through Metro Arts for funding from the StART grant programme, and also the wonderful help and generous support from QCA Griffith and Councillor Jonathan Sri (The Gabba Ward) Lord Mayor Community Fund
Thank you also to Tinni Choudhury, Erin O’Rourke, Joseph Burgess, Simon Turner and Doug Kwok.
THE MASK IS THE NEW FACE
Always present in every society, often used as a means of connection with the divine, the mask has now become an engaging fetish and trend, straddling fashion and art, for a game in which being and appearing are reversed and alternated.
The Wrong Kind of Mask
We might call ourselves by a different name, put on different clothes, and even move to a different geographic or social environment, to totally shield ourselves from criticism or exposure. We don’t really want to give in, give up, be exposed or be unmasked at all. In the name of complete openness we put on a suit of armour. You pronounce your new suit of armour, your further mask, as your vision of what you should be. Ever since we were separated from the wholeness of being, we’ve been trying to create our suits of armour, our masks, and shields of all kinds.
Excerpted from: Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with Yourself through Meditation and Everyday Awareness,by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, page 124
Expression – Art as a transformative practice
Sharka Bosakova and Erin O’Rourke
Performative jewellery
“Each and every human being carries thorns within them. These thorns represent the experiences that stay with us. Some thorns we strike into ourselves, others are inserted, pushed and shaken by outside parties, be that individuals, groups or society in general. Some are created on purpose while others are sharpened unintentionally. But we all have them, we all carry them and most notably, we all MASK them.”
The creator of the UnMasked project, Sharka Bosakova, explores how we can acknowledge, share and unleash the power of our thorns through her 3D/ OVA jewellery pieces.
“Turning what is objectively our darkness drenched in trauma and pain, we can transform into something that becomes light, guided by hope and power. In the current climate of the world consumed by COVID-19 news and devastation, it is necessary now more than ever to come together to acknowledge and unmask our hidden thorns. UnMasked proposes a communal unmasking of our thorns.”
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Exhibit 1 – HORIZONTAL FOREST (site specific)
Material: fallen branches from the Toohey forest, paint
Branches: Toohey Forest
Walk through the horizontal forest ….
Mesmerised by the chaos and complete order of the forest, this delicate joinery mimics Sharka’s 3D / OVA functional principle.
Endless growth explores the body of the forest in its ever-changing myriads of possibilities.
The branches are collected from the surrounding area and have taken different forms at different exhibiting locations.
Branches: Gympie
‘The floods of February 2022 in Gympie brought destruction that many were unprepared for. The swell washed through the town, taking its safety and structure away. Much like a tree, the community survived through strength and connection. The branches found in the debris of the flood tell the story of unity and determined growth.
Thank you to the Vogels family: Cindy, Elke, Toby, Mack and to Liz Wilkinson for their generosity and support in creating the memorial of the swell.
Exhibit 2 – BODY MOVEMENT (site specific)
Material: textile, wind, body movement, paint, water bodies – rain, damn, creek
Body Movement: Toohey Forest
Body Movement: Eumundi, Kin Kin
Tiger Tree
I dance its branches
Among the leaves
Trembling in shades
Weightless
The memory of the body is in dialogue to search for new pathways. There is physical pleasure in celebrating tactility with the environment, reacting in the moment of the next movement.
Exploring body movement in a large format of textiles, these works create layers over and over, freely unrestricted, fully engrossed in the elements of the Sharka’s own body, sun, wind and rain capturing a physical pleasure in celebrating tactility with the environment. We can see ‘the body thinking’ captured in a simple manner of lines.
In her studio / living space the Sharka seamlessly flows from the kitchen, textile/sewing studio, jewellery workshop and a wonderous outdoor ‘Under the Tiger Tree’ space often visited by possums, a local bush turkey and a live-in lizard.
Exhibit 3 – Monoliths
Material: Textile, Concrete, Plaster
The Monoliths are standing eight meters tall, anchoring the exhibition space with strong visual manifestation yet a soft feeling of movement of breath merging two polarities.
Exhibit 4 – Shedding I
Material: Plaster, Textile, Steel
Exhibit 5 – Shedding II
Material: Plaster, Textile, Steel
Underlying the project, titled “Hollows and Thorns”, is a desire to understand what we hide from and where we feel comfortable, surveying the patterns of flow occurring in the natural landscapes and in our own bodies. First of a series of sculptures – casted bodies with ‘Thorns’ that are placed within different emotional centers. Here Sharka explores how emotions have the ability to distort the physical human body, the matter.
The shedding is a physical representation of a dialogue of the self in the process of unmasking. In the process of shedding, the outer layers are peeled.
Exhibit 6 – BOX OF REFLECTION
Material: Splinter of BODY MOVEMENT painting, 3D/ OVA pieces, glass, flashlights
The Space of Visual Illusion.
WARNING: Flashing lights may potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy and similar conditions … Viewer discretion is advised.
Exhibit 7 – Interactive – Self / Reflect
Material: aluminium mesh, 3D/OVA shapes
INSTRUCTIONS
- Take a Selfie!
- And UPLOAD TO INSTAGRAM
#unmaskedqca @unmasked_org
- Instantly join the Stream of #Selfies from the UnMasked project community
Here you can create an illusion of a mask from the magnetic objects attached on the screen. You are invited to create your own cluster of a masked space where you can place your face surrounded or covered by the 3D objects, moving and reattaching them as you desire.
Please use hand sanitiser provided and follow COVID Safe Protocols.
Exhibit 8 – 3D / OVA by Sharka Bosakova
Material: Degradable filaments, neodymium magnets, marine quality strings
The 3D / OVA line is 3D printed using biodegradable plant-based filaments. The multifunctional jewellery set is convertible, as each piece can be attached or juxtaposed with another, via the built-in magnets. With a multitude of shapes and colour combinations, your earrings can become a brooch or necklace simply by attaching, detaching or rearranging the different components.
Creating a visual essay, a functional response to the current era of search for sustainability.
Sharka chooses eco-friendly, degradable based materials to work with. Utilising advanced manufacturing through fused deposition modelling, the value lies in its precision and functionality – where less is more.
This innovative design allows the creation of uniquely customised jewellery. Each component contains internal magnets to allow tailored orientation or a combination assembly with additional pieces.
Sustainability is central to the story. The additive manufacturing process privileges materials made from natural sources and generates less waste compared with traditional subtractive manufacturing methods.
Exhibit 9 – FACE FRAMES
Material: old wire, 3D/OVA shapes
Tracing the lines of the face the frames become restriction: FACE > MASK > UNMASKED > IDENTITY > BODY
By wearing these frames, the movement of the body is affected.
How does the mask we wear everyday affect our movement? Our inner body? Our shadow? Inner emotions purge out of the face, uncovering the internal to external, the body construction reveals itself on the surface.
Exhibit 10 – Tresses
Material: Two 3D printed Neck Pieces with Spell and Thorn attachments from plant-based filaments 18 cm x 80 cm placed on fluorescent lightboxes
Black Neckpiece with Spells from Sharka Bosakova 3D / OVA collection.
White Neckpiece with Thorns and Spells from Sharka Bosakova 3D / OVA collection.
Exhibit 11 – Sound Path
Material: Wooden Frame, Stones, Sound Equipment
Here we are exploring the sense of hearing in relation to ecology and identity. Through direct movement and listening, and sound-making in the exhibition setting, this interactive piece invites audiences to crack open the space and feel through their own body.
“What do you hear? What sounds do you make?
This immersive installation will place you into a space of inquiry opening a complex network of questions from the perspective of hearing a physicality of sound.
Exhibit 12 – 4th Body
Material: Textile, Plaster
Time-based sculpture
The nearly soft sculptural piece is a direct result of the Deconstruction workshop with Ruby Donohoe. In reaction to the UnMasking theme, several bodies merged in an attempt to excavate relationships between the animate and inanimate, objectivity and subjectivity, and temporal negotiations of space.
Through communal invitation and physical action, we captured a process for tuning into the impulse, somatic information, materiality, and site.
Exhibit 13 – Portraits
Material: Digital Screen
Digital screen showing images of visitors to the exhibition and participants from the public program workshops expressing themselves.
Portrait – UNMASKED PORTRAIT by Thomas Oliver, Golda Guido, Sharka Bosakova.
