The Power of Staying Still
Faye Mullen is a Toronto based artist who resides in Berlin right now for culturia art in residence program. Some of the keywords that came into my mind whilst trying to learn more about her works were weigh, white, emptiness, covering, enclosing, death drive; patience; duration; silence-sound; presence – absence/appearance – disappearance…
Mullen sends her body from A to B, or lives in the gallery space whilst observing the visitors from a peep whole. Sometimes she shifts the roles or sometimes just stays inside and keeps being silent.
In the artist’s work there are also surprises: one first encounters the white wall in the white cube of the gallery space and actually, in that wall, there is compound, pine needles and her naked body; organic elements in the architectural element. Waiting, being patient is another aspect that Mullen deals with. She suffers but she does not shout it out loud. The artist encloses herself/ her body/ her skin inside the wall or an air duct and waits… Waits for the visitor to discover the process.
Silence is another way of shouting it loud; actually silence is noise in itself. One of Mullen’s latest works Disappearance in Prose recalls the moments in our lives. A body in the fields of reeds appears and breathes in, then tries to yell. Unfortunately, this act is just a trial just like we,as human beings, experience almost everyday.
Silence becomes the main expression in itself. Smallest audible sound, 0 dB becomes unbearable to watch.
