A event on Thursday 20th March. The event starts at 18:00.
SERCHIA Gallery, Bristol is delighted to announce visual artist Yulia Mahr’s solo exhibition ‘As It Was, So It Is’ opening for the second annual Equinox: Bristol Gallery Weekend on the spring equinox. An exhibition bringing together a selection of Yulia Mahr’s recent work reflecting on the female experience and notions of impermanence.
“My interest in the body, particularly the female body, comes from a place of complexity and depth. I approach it not as an object of beauty or softness, but as something that carries a rich, sometimes uncomfortable history, often linked to trauma, and survival”. Yulia Mahr
Deliberately linking back to the Pictorialists and Photo-Successionists to invoke dream-like states and poetic undertones, Mahr’s work captures a tender and vulnerable exploration of the intricacies of human existence.
Mahr’s practice represents a profound act of engagement with form, materiality and the natural world. She returns repeatedly to questions of representation and figuration, in a sophisticated enquiry into notions of nudity, hierarchy and concepts of permanence and identity.
The pieces displayed at Serchia are taken from three distinct bodies of work. In the series “In You I see Me” Mahr rephotographs, enlarges and manipulates the images of women hidden as anonymous background characters in archival photographs and, in an act echoing religious iconography, brings them into the foreground. “The Blues”, a ‘visceral act of self-portraiture’ examines the artist’s own post-partum body, while in “The Quiet Uncertainty of Stone” Mahr investigates the inevitability of mutability and its triumph over notions of permanence.
Dotted amongst these are “Hands IV”, which dissolves the boundaries between sculpture and natural elements to evoke inner psychological states; “Asking”, a tentative plea for connection, and the haunting “Untitled” an enquiry into the ethics of the morally dubious practice of collecting embryos and still born babies for nineteenth century museum displays.
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About SERCHIA
SERCHIA is a residential and not-for-profit woman-run gallery residing in the curator’s Victorian home in Bristol. Since 2021, SERCHIA has celebrated British and International contemporary artists, who make visible what would otherwise never be seen. SERCHIA is home to an art book library, reading room, artist residency programme, and photography studio . The gallery interacts with the community through a constellation of events and cultivates opportunities for artists of all backgrounds . For further details please visit: https://serchiagallery.square.site/
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Access
The gallery is in a residential home in Cotham, Bristol where the curator lives with her family. We request that our guests book in advance as space is limited. Thank you.
Private View
Thursday 20 March from 18.00 - 21.00
RSVP:
https://serchiagallery.square.site/product/rsvp-as-it-was-so-it-is-by-yulia-mahr/229?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=4
Artist Talk
Sunday 23 March from 14.00-15.00
RSVP:
https://serchiagallery.square.site/product/in-conversation-with-yulia-mahr/230?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=4
SERCHIA Gallery. 24 Elmgrove Road. REDLAND, Bristol, BS6 6AJ
By Train: The gallery is a five minute walk from Redland station.
By Bus: Redland line 72 Zetland Road line 72 or 73
By Car: Free on-street parking from 6pm evenings and weekends and via the JustPark app on weekdays.
There are 10 steps from the front gate to the gallery and two steps within the gallery.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)
“My interest in the body, particularly the female body, comes from a place of complexity and depth. I approach it not as an object of beauty or softness, but as something that carries a rich, sometimes uncomfortable history, often linked to trauma, and survival”. Yulia Mahr
Deliberately linking back to the Pictorialists and Photo-Successionists to invoke dream-like states and poetic undertones, Mahr’s work captures a tender and vulnerable exploration of the intricacies of human existence.
Mahr’s practice represents a profound act of engagement with form, materiality and the natural world. She returns repeatedly to questions of representation and figuration, in a sophisticated enquiry into notions of nudity, hierarchy and concepts of permanence and identity.
The pieces displayed at Serchia are taken from three distinct bodies of work. In the series “In You I see Me” Mahr rephotographs, enlarges and manipulates the images of women hidden as anonymous background characters in archival photographs and, in an act echoing religious iconography, brings them into the foreground. “The Blues”, a ‘visceral act of self-portraiture’ examines the artist’s own post-partum body, while in “The Quiet Uncertainty of Stone” Mahr investigates the inevitability of mutability and its triumph over notions of permanence.
Dotted amongst these are “Hands IV”, which dissolves the boundaries between sculpture and natural elements to evoke inner psychological states; “Asking”, a tentative plea for connection, and the haunting “Untitled” an enquiry into the ethics of the morally dubious practice of collecting embryos and still born babies for nineteenth century museum displays.
__________
About SERCHIA
SERCHIA is a residential and not-for-profit woman-run gallery residing in the curator’s Victorian home in Bristol. Since 2021, SERCHIA has celebrated British and International contemporary artists, who make visible what would otherwise never be seen. SERCHIA is home to an art book library, reading room, artist residency programme, and photography studio . The gallery interacts with the community through a constellation of events and cultivates opportunities for artists of all backgrounds . For further details please visit: https://serchiagallery.square.site/
__________
Access
The gallery is in a residential home in Cotham, Bristol where the curator lives with her family. We request that our guests book in advance as space is limited. Thank you.
Private View
Thursday 20 March from 18.00 - 21.00
RSVP:
https://serchiagallery.square.site/product/rsvp-as-it-was-so-it-is-by-yulia-mahr/229?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=4
Artist Talk
Sunday 23 March from 14.00-15.00
RSVP:
https://serchiagallery.square.site/product/in-conversation-with-yulia-mahr/230?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=4
SERCHIA Gallery. 24 Elmgrove Road. REDLAND, Bristol, BS6 6AJ
By Train: The gallery is a five minute walk from Redland station.
By Bus: Redland line 72 Zetland Road line 72 or 73
By Car: Free on-street parking from 6pm evenings and weekends and via the JustPark app on weekdays.
There are 10 steps from the front gate to the gallery and two steps within the gallery.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)
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