Covid Time / 2023 / Wall-based Installation, mixed media / Gabriella Presnal
This installation I made site specific for Pinni47 at Purkutaidetalo in Tampere, Finland. I used COVID tests (all tested negative), chipped plates, toy animals, broken wires, dried paint, a graduation rose, and a broken computer, and then I included some small paintings. I was moving out of Tampere in late May and the festival started early June so I created this installation from materials I wasn’t sure I wanted to move and could throw away easily after this demolition project. The paintings are mixed media, one using COVID masks as a base, and others I used bio-inks like ash and orange for the base.
The work was inspired by the materials at hand, together they summarized many feelings of COVID lockdowns and having graduated (from high school degree) at the start of the pandemic, and then going through half of one’s undergraduate degree during the pandemic. It has feelings of lost moments, like lost graduation, and lost experiences of university via zoom, moments of taking care of family.