BRUISE SERIES, 2020-2021
watercolor on printed linen, dimensions variable
“First, there is the old truth that “In the beginning is the body,” with its desires, its powers, its manifold form of resistance to exploitation. As is often recognized, there is no social change, no cultural or political innovation that is not expressed through the body, no economic practice that is not applied to it.’
Silvia Federici “Beyond the Periphery of the Skin” 2020
The body is a document of social struggles. For example, in the artist’s native country of Belarus, the nation united in response to the rigged election of 2020. These protestors shared the resulting scars of having faced aggressive measures of suppression and brutal detainment across various media platforms, bringing public awareness to the human rights abuse in hopes of achieving justice in the future. These events have triggered Bliumis’ watercolor on linen series, Bruises. Each bruise painting is numbered in reference to statistics of human suffering. The traumas range from serious to playful, from political prisoners and refugees to unrequited celebrity crushes. The artist represents the bruises as abstract patches of watercolor allowing the pigment to bleed into the weave of the linen in a style reminiscent of Color Field painting. Bliumis engages the expressionist style’s association with making an emotional impact through clarity of color and form with an emphasis on celebrating individual expression and freedom of subjectivity. Her paintings are spatial and alive to endow an immortality to the feelings and sensations that underlie these important moments throughout our own personal and collective history.
Images:
Bruise #81.5, 2021, watercolor on linen, 145 x 112 in (*81.5% of Belarusians disagreed with Belarusian presidential election results in August 2020)
Bruise #174, 2020-2021, watercolor on linen, 40 x 30 in ( *174 countries are at war in some form or another)
Left: Bruise #1 Million (*There are around a million political prisoners worldwide) Right: Bruise #40 Million (*40 million people are estimated to be trapped in modern slavery worldwide) / 2021, watercolor on linen, 50 x 41 in each
Bruise #98% 2020, watercolor on printed linen, 30x20 inches (*98 percent of people die without fulfilling their dreams)
Bruise #82.4 Million, 2021, watercolor on linen, 50 x 41 in (127 x 104.1 cm) (*82.4 million displaced people worldwide)
Bruise #5.1 Million, 2020-2022, watercolor on linen, 30 x 50 in (76.2 x 127 cm) (*5.1 million Ukrainians are refugees)
Bruise #6.8 Million, 2020, watercolor on linen, 30 x 50 in (76.2 x 127 cm) (*6.8 million Syrians are refugees)
Right: Bruise #71% (*71% of heavy social media users reported feeling lonely) Left: Bruise #80% (About 80% of people have these imaginary relationships with media figures.) / 2020, watercolor on linen, 30 x 24 in each
Bruise #264 Million, 2020 watercolor on linen, 40 x 30 in (*264 million individuals worldwide have an anxiety disorder)
Left: Bruise #35% (*35% of women have been subjected to gender-based violence worldwide) Right: Bruise #60% (*60% of children age 2-14 years old have experienced corporal punishment ) / 2020, watercolor on linen, 30 x 24 in each
Bruise #43%, 2020, watercolor on linen, 40 x 30 in (*43% of adults worldwide reported feeling powerless)
Left: Bruise #25,000 (*25,000 people die daily from hunger and related causes) Center: Bruise #65% (*65% of people worldwide feel pessimistic about reducing the gap between the rich and poor) Right: Bruise #13 (*In 13 countries being gay is legally punishable by death) / 2020, watercolor on linen, 44 x 30 in each
Installation view, Alina Bliumis, Imagination Nation, Elma, NY; Bruise Series, 2021, watercolor on printed linen, 147 x 112 inches, photo by Ege Okal