ARTIST IN RESIDENCY
NaKuHel Sunnmøre has hosted three international residencies for artists working in the field of environmental art. All visisting artists have spent a week in the area, and in various ways interpreted themes such as "Lost and Found", Hidden Spaces" and 'Losing Memory' through their work on the art trail 'Allfar'.
"I perceive the natural world as an archetypical gallery in which the flora and the fauna are the pieces of art I have been looking for. My main quest concerns about the 'hidden and elusive' in the natural scenery, which are encoded behind the phenomena. Through my practice I explore the traces, which secretly connect the human psyche with the non-human world.
My effort lies on my willingness to realise in act the cultivation of my ecological self. In order to fulfill this aspiration I look for direct experiences in nature, for contacts which can potentially trigger the deepening of the experience. I consider experience as an essential way of querying life.
The biggest part of my art practice has taken place outdoors in the natural landscape and the creative process was intensive and rich. I visited animals, trees, creeks, and mountains, resulting in the expanding of myself into the landscape.
Metaphorically, my work is a rhythmic knocking on a wooden gate, a silent calling for asking that reveals the secrets of nature, and a transformation to a new deeper ecological personality."
Panagiotis Brentas, visiting artist in 2019