Anna BEETZ

Visual Arts HL - Exhibition Component

Anna Larissa Beetz - Meet you there

I was inspired by the song “Das ist dein Leben '' by Philipp Dittberner which reflects on how we can't control everything in life, have to take risks but always have a sense of home/belonging in the world. Growing up internationally, the concept of home and heritage is something that I always struggled with as a ‘3rd culture kid’. With “Bonded” I was able to reflect on some of my Heritage. Home is the sense of belonging and where you feel the most comfortable; for me, the ocean/water would also be considered home. Water metaphorically stands for our life. The dynamics of water, being able to convey all sorts of emotions and the changes and pathways it can take are remedies of this.

I grew up around water - always being present and one of my happy core memories is going swimming/freediving with my dad in the ocean for the first time, which is reflected in “Childhood”. These two works are the only including human-like figures within the pieces, both representing/showing me. I always found the ocean intriguing and mysterious even with having multiple accidents, such as getting my oxygen tank closed 20m underwater while diving. Whenever we enter a body of water, we always expose ourselves to risk as water can’t be controlled similarly to life, which is reflected in “Rising”. I have 2 perceptual pieces with “Rising” and “Childhood” in my exhibition, allowing the audience to explore their own emotions towards the water. Similar to art, which can be used to awaken many emotions, which are explored within all my pieces.

Water is similar to us - Reflecting on how we are the same but also not - every experience, every choice made by us or others, risk good or bad - we change. This is similar to Waves as they follow the same pattern but aren’t the exact same. I explored this within “Coming back” and “To myself”. Within these pieces, my painting style was heavily influenced by April Gornik. She manipulates her landscapes slightly by changing the tones to convey different emotions. “Devil's Bridge” oppositely completely removed all colours in order to investigate the relationship between colour and emotion. “Ocean of three” is a representation of the simplicity of her work with landscapes through which the tones are not altered; the composition is, by elimination of any unnecessary/other objects, to showcase the simplicity.

My installation conceptually links the above together. Through the figure, I’m putting myself at risk. It explores the emotions of the audience, but also the artist, whenever a string is cut. Similarly, it reflects on the idea of how small things can change you similar to “Coming back” and “To myself” but in this, showing what happens when these small changes and things add up, causing a bigger reaction. The weight reflects when everything boils over and the wave finally breaks or in this case the Doll/myself.

I explored different materials throughout my investigation such as driftwood, ceramics and seashells such as in “Abrasion”. The material's impact and influence the meaning of the piece; “Drifting” with driftwood- as it is the sense of travel/going home is explored through the material. I predominantly used acrylic as I like the quality of the pigmentation and colour vibrancy and trueness I can achieve within it.

My installation “Bonded” is the first viewpoint, as it requires the active participation of the audience. I have placed “Rising” centrally as it is my biggest and perceptual-piece drawing in the eye first. It also requires space to move around, allowing the bubbles to ‘come alive. “Drifting” is elevated to allow the audience to engage and touch and feel the natural carvings of the wood. I placed the pieces that require a shorter angle together, such as “Abrasion” and “Childhood” at the beginning of the wall. When the audience first looks it sees the bigger pieces and then can come in to explore those in detail such as the dog or boat in “Ocean of three”.