From:May 3, 2012 20:00 to: May 26, 2012 15:00
Location: Ballina Arts Centre
The Opera / Untouched: Varvara Shavrova
Official Opening: Thursday 3rd May, 8pm
During the month of May, Ballina Arts Centre will present two exhibitions by renowned multimedia artist Varvara Shavrova.
Using the Ballina Civic Offices exhibition space and the Arts Centre’s own gallery space, the two exhibitions will run simultaneously throughout the month, with The Opera at Ballina Arts Centre and Untouched at Ballina Civic Offices
The Opera is Shavrova’s spellbinding insight into the fragile world of the Peking Opera, one of China’s most revered artforms. The famous Peking Opera, when first encountered in a dilapidated tea house in Beijing, was to prove an epiphany for artist Varvara Shavrova. Fascinated by the high-pitched singing, the music, the dancing and the costumes, the artist set about documenting this ‘world of pure art’ in the video piece entitled ‘Opera’, including the archaic costumes (hand-embroidered silk); the two hour make-up application sittings, all shot at various Peking Opera performances, theatres, dressing rooms, and private meetings. ‘Opera’ is scored by Benoit Granieb (formerly Professor of Music at Trinity College, Dublin), combining traditional Irish and Chinese music.
Untouched is a photographic and multimedia show in which artist Shavrova juxtaposes the small farming community of Ballycastle in Co. Mayo, with one particular Beijing neighbourhood (pre-Olympics) that is currently undergoing a major redevelopment.
Using both visual and audiovisual frameworks, she juxtaposes and compares the lives of these two communities, and highlights the fascinating similarities in what determines how lives are led in two very different cultural and social environments.
Presented as a large-scale photographic installation, we see the stark black and white images of old Hutong neighbourhoods in Beijing set against photographs of abandoned cottages in rural County Mayo in Ireland.
Varvara Shavrova was born in Moscow, Russia. She lived and worked in London for over 15 years, with intensive periods of work also spent in Ireland. In 2005 she moved to Beijing, China, where now lives and works with her Irish engineer husband and their two young sons.
Shavrova’s solo exhibitions span the globe including London, Dublin, Frankfurt, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Shanghai and Beijing.
Admission free. All welcome. Runs until 26th May.
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