Klechdy domowe*

After moving countries repeatedly, Elisa Markes-Young’s identity is defined by the feeling of being caught between two worlds. It’s a space of loss, a gap between spaces one lives in after failing to inhabit either world completely. As a result, Markes-Young’s life and artistic practice are focused on the question of what and where is home.

As with many countries, Poland has a complex system of symbols and rituals designed to make a place home and protect it from real and imagined dangers. These elements are often tightly woven into the fabric of the building. They are both utilitarian and cornerstones of the Polish cultural identity.

Some of these superstitions and rites are still practiced today, others are long forgotten. While such rituals might seem incomprehensible and ignorant today, for the people practicing them they were a way of imbuing the world with meaning and affirming their place within it. In that world everything had the potential for ritual, whether demonstrably through the placement of an object or less perceptibly through meaning hidden within its materials, form and function.

The first works in the series were exhibited as part of Dwelling Rituals, an exhibition curated by Laetitia Wilson and shown at Holmes à Court @Vasse Felix as part of the first IOTA satellite program. Further works were shown at The Goods Shed, Perth, in Coalescence, a showcase of Margaret River artists curated by Andrew Nicholls.

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* Domestic tales and legends.