Virginia Mak Releases New Work | Of One's Own
Left: Virginia Mak, Of One's Own 14, Chromogenic Print Mounted to Archival Substrate, Editioned in 28 x 28 inches and 48 x 48 in.
Right: Virginia Mak, Of One's Own 16, Chromogenic Print Mounted to Archival Substrate, Editioned in 28 x 28 inches and 48 x 48 in.
Toronto-based photographer, Virginia Mak, has released two new photographs as part of her series, Of One's Own. Read Mak's artist statement below:
Of One's Own
"Yet it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes come to the top."
- Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf proposes that for a woman to be able to write [or create], she need be free of poverty, to have a room of one’s [her] own.
This body of works consists of “interior” portraits where the woman is engaged at a quiet act, or looking at the world outside. It also describes the physical setting wherein a woman frees her mind from clutter, finding time and space to ignite her imagination. Or, it is a setting for longings: love, loss or adventure.
Her gaze is at once outward and inward. Her gaze outward may allude to her longing for somewhere distant, external to her physical surroundings. Her gaze within may be her reach for her inner landscape.
The external world – natural or manmade – encompasses a grander picture of life. The woman’s interior world may also imply her station, one of domesticity.
The window is an opening. Unlike a door, it is a partial opening.
The moment of looking through the window, or engaged in a quiet act by the window, may be one of reflection, curiosity, excitement of the moment itself, or anticipating what lies ahead. Or, it may be a metaphor for an opening into another plane. Such a moment may be an antecedent or a recurring process for which a woman creates or excels in her art.
- Virginia Mak