Artist Interview | Aurelie Crisetig
Aurelie Crisetig (b. 1992) is a photographer and visual artist from Switzerland. She uses photography as a tool to explore the alteration of human memory in a world overwhelmed by digital entities. Working both with film and digital photography, her works reflect on the constant use of mechanical recordings, especially in public and cultural places. After graduating with a BA in Art History and Film Studies in Lausanne, she completed an 8-week photography program at the New York Film Academy in New York. In 2018, she graduated with an MA Photography from UAL: University of the Arts, London.
This belongs to everyone, so enjoy the view’ depicts the alteration of landscapes through digital topography. The fragmented areas compose an ensemble of imaginary, abstract panoramas. Every pattern of land represents a variation of time and space in both the digital and physical world. These patchworks of sceneries taken from Google Earth express how diverse a location on our planet can appear through a manmade apparatus. These transfigurations were digitally seized by a dispositive used to capture landscapes from above, but also physically transformed by the global warming produced by human beings. Both changes depict the unpredictable development of landscape altered by human’s behaviour.
Independent & Image Art Space: What are the critical milestones in your art career?
Aurelie Crisetig:It is difficult to say… Because I was expecting so much of my master’s degree but had little support from my university, I had to find my own way into the art world. I got accepted into an art residency in Hong Kong right after I finished my degree, but I had to leave the city due to the unstable situation there. In 2020, I went to an art residency in Tokyo, but my exhibition was cancelled due to the pandemic and I had to go back to Switzerland immediately. Both my art residencies were crucially beneficial for my professional and personal life, but also represent the greatest misfortunes of my emerging career. However, there is always good and bad in life, and I have learned that, even though it is unplanned, unfair and frustrating, there is always hope.
Independent & Image Art Space: In front of the current pandemic, how do you think art can do for our world, community or family?
Aurelie Crisetig: Art, in any situations or contexts, has always supported people. I think art has a healing power dedicated to comfort, communicate, support, assemble people. It can make you laugh or cry, it can make you feel vulnerable or powerful. Art has the ability to transcends gender, nationality, age, race, knowledge to become a tool we can all use for our own good. I believe art is more than just a painting on a wall; it is an empowering entity that strengthens us all.
Independent & Image Art Space: In the new year of 2021, do you have any plan for your art creation?
Aurelie Crisetig: I have been accepted into two art residencies in Asia, so I hope I could go there at some point this year. It is a complicated situation for everyone, but there’s always an alternative path to find. I will continue working on my ongoing projects and try to find different ways of expressing myself through art. In such a complex time like this, I believe we should find our own light in the darkness. For 2021, I’ll look for it and keep working hard.
