Melanie Cobham, umjetnica iz Melbournea rođena u Urugvaju (1993.), diplomirala je dizajn na Sveučilištu ORT (Urugvaj) i magistrirala suvremenu umjetnost na Victorian College of the Arts (Australija). Završila je i studij audiovizualnih komunikacija, smjer nakit i srebrnarstvo. Održala je samostalne izložbe u Photo Access (Canberra, Australija, 2022.), Sawtooth (Tasmania, Australija, 2020.) i Improper Walls (Beč, Austrija, 2017.). Sudjelovala je na skupnim izložbama u Perth Centre for Photography, Caves Gallery, Wyndham Art Gallery, Castlemaine Art Museum i Fundación Pablo Atchugarry, između ostalih. Dobitnica je Creative Deakin Bursary Prize (2020.), stipendije Stuart Black Memorial (2020.) i Melbourne Mobility Award (2019.). Melanie je nedavno završila rezidenciju na Australian Tapestry Workshop (2022), Photo Access (2022), Megalo Printmaking Workshop (2022) i Takt Berlin (2017).
Melanie Cobham, Uruguay-born (1993) Melbourne based artist, she holds a Bachelor of Design from ORT University (Uruguay), and a Master’s of Contemporary Art from the Victorian College of the Arts (Australia). She has also completed studies in Audio-visual Communication, Jewellery and Silversmithing. She has held solo exhibitions at Photo Access (Canberra, Australia, 2022), Sawtooth (Tasmania, Australia, 2020) and Improper Walls (Vienna, Austria, 2017). She has participated in group exhibitions at Perth Centre for Photography, Caves Gallery, Wyndham Art Gallery, Castlemaine Art Museum and Fundación Pablo Atchugarry, among others. She has been the recipient of the Creative Deakin Bursary Prize (2020), the Stuart Black Memorial Scholarship (2020) and the Melbourne Mobility Award (2019). Melanie has recently completed residencies at the Australian Tapestry Workshop (2022), Photo Access (2022), Megalo Printmaking Workshop (2022) and Takt Berlin (2017).
Melanie Cobham
Pjesme za migrante / Melodies For Migrants, 2021.
glazbene kutije, istekle putovnice, drvena podloga / music boxes, expired passports, wooden support
180 x 20 x 7 cm
Pjesma za migrante instalacija je sastavljena od putovnica stranih državljana čije bušeno kodiranje aktivira zvuk dok se pokreće kroz glazbene kutije. Rad utjelovljuje naš odnos prema granicama i koristi estetiku birokracije kako bi ponudio humaniju alternativu migraciji. Za pojedince koji migriraju prisutnost je uokvirena tragom dokumentacije koju ostavljamo iza sebe. Zakopano pod beskrajnim teretom sušne papirologije leži prigušeno ljudsko iskustvo, koje stidljivo ponovno izranja na površinu kroz usputnu glazbu. Prisvajanje i reinterpretacija ovih dokumenata omogućili su mi da propitam kako sustavi koji birokratiziraju identitet mogu postati reduktivni i abrazivni.
Melodies for Migrants is an installation composed of foreign passports whose punched coding activates sound as it is run through music boxes. The work embodies our relationship to borders and seizes the aesthetics of bureaucracy to offer a more humane alternative to migration. For migrating individuals, presence is framed by the trail of documentation we leave behind. Buried under the endless load of arid paperwork lies the muffled experience of humans, timidly resurfaced through incidental music. Appropriating and reinterpreting these documents has allowed me to question how the systems that bureaucratise identity can become reductive and abrasive.
- iz izjave umjetnice / from the statement of the artist
