Opening, October 3, 2023, 7 pm
Exhibition, October 4 – November 10, 2023
“My artistic practice in general doesn’t shy away from the political,” stresses Stephanie Misa, as she ponders how different social realities and affiliations are interwoven and how the reciprocity of categories such as gender, class, ethnicity, or sexual orientation influence one’s personal opportunities in society: “In fact, I probably have quite a literal take on (the second-wave feminist slogan) ‘the personal is political’, but maybe slightly twisting it to ‘the political is personal’.” Many of the works by the artist, who grew up in the Philippines and lives in Europe, comment on the social contexts we are embedded in, be it the social, political, or cultural system.
“Maybe the artist’s role is to dismantle and dissect things, events, people, and even places so we can see things a bit more clearly—so when things are sexist, misogynist, racist, colonial, xenophobic, unjust and undignified, we have the ability to call foul and ask for culpability, or at least see it for what it really is and respond accordingly.”* Misa formulates her investigations into identity, immigration, and historical and cultural authenticity in videos, sculptures, printmaking, photography, and text production. Her own diasporic experiences as a Woman of Color serve as a backdrop to reflect on issues such as cultural hybridity, economic systems and co-dependencies, patriarchal structures and their imperialist agenda, the notion of “multiracial whiteness” and social media, identitarian movements, or, more generally, our society in times of crisis.
* Paula Marschalek, “Interview with Stephanie Misa,” www.les-nouveaux-riches.com/interview-with-stephanie-misa.
Stephanie Misa (b. 1979 in the Philippines) lives and works in Vienna and Helsinki.
www.stephaniemisa.com
