Liv remembering the sound of wind, 2023
collective memory
A portfolio with portraits of the comadre*
Jeannine Unsen portrays women who seem to stand still in carefully staged, intimate settings and raise questions about identity and vulnerability - more precisely, the archetype of the "wise woman". The timeless contexts in which the figures reveal themselves are the result of a close collaboration between the artist and her model, exploring the latter's mystical feminine nature: a reflection on our longing for spiritual connection and the deeply human need to belong. The carefully crafted process of capturing the portrait is of particular significance as it explores our ability to engage with stillness and introspection. In order to materialise the intangible vibration that emanates from each person, the artist embroiders the "corpus" with gestures and memories through hand-stitched embroidery.
Because ...
on this planet we must ...
make connections
maintain a dialogue with the invisible shape our world like a refuge
* from the Spanish: "I am your mother and at the same time you are my mother", developed by the psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés in The Dance of the Great Mother
Jeannine Unsen (*1975, Luxembourg) lives and works in Luxembourg. She graduated in photography in Brussels in 1999. Jeannine Unsen stages characters who freeze in carefully imagined settings, raising questions about authenticity, identity and representation. Since the early 2000s, her work has been shown in Luxembourg (e.g. Odd, small and beautiful, solo exhibition at the Musée d'Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg; murmures, Neimënster; ELO Inner Exile, Outer Limits, Musée d'Art Moderne MUDAM) and abroad (eg. Nuit de l'Europe, Rencontres d'Arles, Arles; Pingyao - China International Photography Festival, Pingyao; Reflections, Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art; Visages d'Europe, Tour Saint Jacques, Paris).