We invite you to the Finissage of Between 'Facelessness' and 'Facefullness'
Research Project and Exhibition initiated and curated by Rosa Sancarlo In collaboration with BHMF
The research project and exhibition Between 'Facelessness' and 'Facefullness' sets out to question established individualistic and exclusive notions of the self, by provocatively considering a negation of the self, a multiplicity of different selves, and a cohabitation of selves and “others,” in the artistic oscillations between hyper-detailed facial realism and a complete suspension of it in the art of Laura Arminda Kingsley.
In a contemporary social discourse lacerated by dichotomic tensions between collective and individual in-visibilities and hyper-visibilities often articulated on aerial, earthly and marine political checkboards, a highly signifying potential is disclosed by Kingsley’s compositional fluctuations between depicting her figures with extremely realistic, and detailed facial features; and between a total lack, suspension, and obfuscation of their bodily appearances. Kingsley reveals two enunciative, dialoguing perspectives. The state of ‘facelessness’ reminds us of those phases from ancient Earth times, when the “face,” and the notion of individuality that comes with it, was not yet part of the evolutionary process. The abundance of faces from her state of ‘facefullness’ should be interpreted as a transhistorical stratification of interlocked selves, read in connection to micro-organic forms of life and to the many layers of existence that resulted in our current contemporary presences.
Through these two perspectives and the dialogues between them, Kingsley’s art and the exhibition project invite us to unthink the self as a permanent, monolithic and isolated entity, and instead to imagine it as a historically ephemeral, porous and diverse cohabiting multiplicity—entangled with others across history, geography, and culture. Within the framework of this research project and exhibition, the reflections sparked by negotiations between ‘facelessness’ and ‘facefullness’ unveil the politics and potentialities of conversing and returning gazes with the artist herself, with our own selves, and with other living-forms, across historical, cultural and aquatic coordinates.
The project is a part of the summer festival Un’Altra Luna and inserts itself within the research platform Di Palo in Frasca dedicated to the valorization of artistic research. Kingsley’s time in Florence is part of a partnership with Murate Art District where she is part of a research residency.