Lora Abci
Serbia I 1999 I abcilora@gmail.com
I never associated marriage with love, passion, or longtermism, on the contrary, I considered it an unnecessary sealing of a relationship, which will last or not, regardless of a piece of paper and the involvement of a state. Therefore, this topic seemed unattractive to me at first. However, in the very next moment, a glimmer of inspiration appeared that led to the next clue, and the next one, until I’ve seen the whole picture, which is: what if I looked at the phenomenon of marriage and wedding from the point of view of one of the most important features of the aforementioned – the wedding dress. I thought, what would a dress, whose role was assigned by the people themselves, say at a ceremony that draws so much attention to itself, on a global level. I asked myself what advice would one wedding dress give to another, before the event they have been waiting for since the day they were woven, to “come out of the closet”. Then a short story emerges, the fable can be summed up as the dialogue between two wedding dresses, right before their “coming out”, as well as the intertwining of feelings such as excitement, joy, anticipation, and fear, anxiety and confusion. [“Where does the tunnel lead and is the light just greater pain and suffering?! Is it the same “fake, cold sun” disguised in its own light, but just as cold as the darkness, which swallowed us deep inside…”] Given that my modest artistic oeuvre consists of personal literature (poetry and prose) translated into symbols, solved so to speak, with a characteristic handwriting, this idea also gave birth to a “symbolic drawing” which tells exactly this story. But as the topic itself can flourish in several directions, there are many possibilities for the realization of the “final work”, which, on the other hand, never has to be finished: if all the above were considered – the topic, the progress of the idea, the narrative, symbolic drawing and concept, the entire work could be reduced to a single symbol-closet. The closet as a burden, and not only the one carried by the LGBT+ population, but the one carried by every human being, the mask-like one, whether due to society’s expectations, i.e. violating various “norms”, which must be respected, or from any other reasons. Certainly, the mask is there. Protection is present; a bulletproof vest that prevents new ones and retains previous blows. That bulletproof vest I’m talking about, that bulletproof vest is a closet-safe place, in which we would prefer to stay. But if there’s one thing Harry Potter has taught us all, it’s that no one should live in a closet. Coming out is never easy; for some it is less difficult, for some more, but in both cases it takes courage to take that first step – opening the closet and letting the “sun” in. Whether it’s cold or not. A cabinet positioned in the middle of the gallery space, which imposes itself on the viewer with its monumentality and intrigue, determines the further course of the artistic work: someone will open and close the cabinet, someone will open it and enter, some will be uncomfortable inside, some will wonder, some will (out of fear?) bypass. A closet, foremost, such a simple object, has the potential for a very interesting interaction with people, both in the artistic and psychological spectrum, which is the purpose of my creativity.
