She dives into blackness. Hurtling into and through darkness, everything inside her breathes with strength and relief. She swims downwards and away from land, eyes open, seeing nothing, saltwater entering every pore.

 

Something is shifting, changing. Waters churn faster, a low rumbling building steadily from a far off place. Black clouds plunge this otherworldly stage into momentary darkness, their edges deep cyan and petrol blues, backlit as the moon’s spotlight re-emerges. Looking back towards land, she imagines him sleeping with abandon, a world away. Low groaning escalates into distant cracks of thunder. Slivers of light flash on the horizon with a precision and force that betray their seeming delicacy. She thinks of his scar, of the almost ecstatic joy spreading across his face as he told her of the night he swam in lightning.

 

The rolling waves turn violently, breaking rhythm, no longer a gentle embrace. She should leave now, return to the rapidly diminishing shore, come back to her body, her separateness, lie beside him as though she had never left. Reluctance lingers and she hesitates too long. Raised up, tossed and recaptured, dragged under by a raging weight, her body sags, resistance futile. Every part of her is penetrated, pummeled by the howling sea. She gives in to the fury, knowing that only then will it release her. The skies turn upside down and as suddenly as she had found herself drowning, she is now expelled, thrown towards land.

 

She lies motionless, half submerged, eyes closed, returning slowly. Rain pours down, washing the salt away. And still it clings to her, seaweed in hair, Medusa writhing.–Esther Teichmann

 

In her forthcoming exhibition, Heavy the Sea, award winning, London-based artist Esther Teichmann, takes viewers on a journey through an alternate, orphic world. Teichmann’s practice explores the relationships between loss and desire and the imaginary, blurring the lines between autobiography and fiction. Narratives of longing emerge from photographic fragments, working across large scale still and moving images, sculpture and painting. Visitors will navigate a maze of layered photographs and lush cyanotypes, cloaked fabrics dripped with inks and bathed in subtle hues.

Teichmann grew up in southern Germany and received an MA and PhD in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art. She has been published and shown internationally. A monograph of works, Fulmine, and a book of essays, Falling – On Loss, Desire and the Photographic, will be published by Stanley/Barker in 2017. Heavy the Sea is Teichmann’s first public solo show in the United States.

 

 

Heavy the Sea: Works by Esther Teichmann: January 14 – April 30, 2017

Opening Reception: January 14,  featuring musical performance by OPUS 216,

Members Preview 5 – 7 pm, Public Opening 7 – 9 pm

Performance by OPUS 216: 2 pm March 4

Artist Talk: April 1, 2 pm

Performance by OPUS 216: 2 pm April 29

 

Transformer Station
1460 West 29 Street
Cleveland, OH 44113

216.938.5429

Transformerstation.org