Valentina Gelain’s artistic research revolves around emotional-visual analysis, investigating on different levels the psychic motions and their possible representations. Making visible what is not visible, using narratives and contexts full of meaning, studded with symbolism.

A moment of analysis and confrontation, starting from the own mental sphere and following the plots in which it’s common to get lost, to the call of still imperceptible introspective metamorphoses that lead to the catharsis of being. Urging you to expand towards an ever-evolving symbiotic rediscovery and growth.

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Poem 2

'Drop by drop...

in my nest and prison

we are islands

close, on our own

part of the same thing

sinking towards the origin

decomposing and recomposing

in fluid metamorphosis

will be imbued catharsis'

 

Poem 1

'The membrane is peeling away.
The reflection drips and everything seems to lose consistency,
mixing in a moment that appears eternal.
Contemplating in a static wandering motion,
I find myself looking at someone who was me,
in a meditative elsewhere, right here:
between fragments of the past, and waves of the present…
… shrouded in grey.'

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The sound for the artwork was obtained by alternating and combining the verses of the two poems, resulting in a third one. In collaboration with Stefan Backas & Annika Sillander (narrator).

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The art film highlights how we can relate emotionally to the environment to express our inner mental and emotive states.

In this case, starting from a personal experience, it shows a frame of mind connected to apathy, the inability to act, the difficulty of self-relating and, specifically, the dissociative disorders. More generally, to a hard period, which can be linked to depressive unfolding, to a turbulent emotional state or, in this case, a stuckness moment.
The Grey Hour is an intimate encounter and dialogue with oneself, played with shades of grey and, paradoxically, with beauty and harmony, which want to give space and light to mental dynamics that are often still taboo in today's society.

 

The project is one of the artist's most recent multidisciplinary art production and its body of work includes: video art, photography, performance, crafting, installation and poetry.
However, the main part of the production is composed of the art film in question, which was made during 2021, among the interiors of Malakta (Malax) and natural landscapes of Ostrobothnia, Finland. The filming session was mainly concentrated in the spring, when the territory offered the shades and colours that Gelain was searching for the work. Tones and instants explicitly ancticipated by the title.

 

Info about film:

Lgth: 9min 33sec
Credits: Direction - Valentina Gelain | Camera operator - Jukka Rajala, Bekim Hasaj | Editing - Valentina Gelain, professional advice Jukka Rajala | Sound/Music - Stefan Backas | Assistant - Bekim Hasaj
Sponsors & Partners: Svensk-Österbottniska Samfundet, Svenska Kulturfonden | Malakta kb & Malakta Films ltd

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The art film/project is funded by Svensk-Österbottniska Samfundet, Svenska Kulturfonden & Taiteen edistämiskeskus-Taike.
Thank you to Malakta for the technical support.