Artist statement
Artist statement:
I am Nanda Raemansky (1980) a multidisciplinairy artist from the Dutch bordervillage Eede. As an artist, I am fascinated by the concept of freedom, how it works, evolves, is experienced and dealt with. I found that you can divide freedom into 7 main types. Often you will find a combination of multiple types at work at once.
1) Legal/ Illegal freedom
2) Fysical freedom – Freedom of movement , but also the integrity of your body.
3) Financial freedom
4) Social freedom – Can you be yourself? Are you free to meet who you want, when you want? What effect does the social class you belong to, have on your chances and hapiness?
5) Sense of freedom – This is purely a personal experience/sensation. While one can experience something as a true liberation, it can just as well feel rather smothering to someone else. This sensation can also be induced by the small things in life.Like the play of shadow and light or a impressive sunset. A typical lack of this sensation is, when one experiences a so called invisible wall.
6) Freedom of speech – Can you express yourself freely without (fear for)repercussions and where lay the boundaries? Should there be any boundaries?
7) Mental freedom – Althought one of the most difficult freedoms to constrain, there are plenty of efforts done to do so, mostly by inducing fear or a sense of dependence. Advertisements, politics and religions are often trying to manipulate people this way.
I tend to seek for traces of these freedoms or the lack of them in social commentary, urban spaces, graffiti and street art movements. For a broader perspective I tend to consult documentaries, books, history, newsprograms & talkshows. I work in both digital and analogue formats.
My work consists out of:
-Acrylic painting
-Aquarelle
-Drawing
-Digital drawing
-Digital photography
-Video & sound art
-Printing techniques
-Collage art
-Mixed media
-Installation art
After doing some research, I pick a location as subject. I’ll go there on a ‘expedition’ to gather photo-, video- and audiofootage & some objects or litter, typical for the scenery.
Once back in my studio, I start manipulating the images, sounds and objects by combining, mixing and altering them, from one format to the other, layer on layer. Allowing these images to transform into a new more intuïtive and empathetic reflection of the scenery, inspired on the preliminary research and the experience of the expedition itself. In order to achieve this intuïtive and empathetic imagery, the use of light, color and a dominant black has a prominent role in my oeuvre.
→ This 7 minute video of my Open studio 2021 event gives a good insight into my oeuvre:
https://youtu.be/seJNjY8Wh7A
Raemansky 2021©