October 13 – November 10, 2006
Organized by Dana Turkovic
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
-William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
Project Description:
Cecille R. Hunt Gallery present's recent work by artist Jessika Miekeley. A fresh transplant to St. Louis from Berlin, Miekeley's video and photographic work bring a new voice to the city's art scene. The work explores the space between the still life and the moving image. In Birthday, Miekeley physically scans a still image of a Birthday party, adding a twist of motion. As she carefully frames the surface area of the projected image, previously unseen narratives and emotional poignancy are added to the frozen memory of a birthday celebration. Pool, filmed with the same process, creates an incipient threat of drowning; at other times the view is like that of the shark in Jaws as she stalks human prey.
Pluto has recently been downgraded in status to a dwarf planet by the international astronomy society; Miekeley's photogram series Sky instead, elevate the sweepings of the studio floor to that of celestial bodies. If a ball of ice can be a planet one day and then an oversize comet the next, why not misrepresent a small ball of dust and lint as a cosmic body? The difference, as Miekeley suggests, is the small matter of seeing the world in a grain of sand.
Born in Berlin, Germany. Lives and works in St. Louis. In 1999, Miekeley completed study at Hochschule der Künste, Berlin. In 2002, she received her M.F.A. from Goldsmiths College – University of London. She has shown in numerous group exhibitions including: A Beautiful Game, Roebling Hall, NYC, 2006; Flatfiles, Contemporary Art Museum – St. Louis, 2006; Co-Dependent, The Living Room – Miami Art - Basel, 2005; Temporada de Projetos, Paço das Artes, São Paulo, 2003 ; Park 4 DTV, Amsterdam; 2002. This is Miekeley's first solo exhibition in St. Louis.
