THE NEAR AND DISTANCE PAST

ARTIST STATEMENT

Single channel HD video
4.00 min

The work in this installation extends beyond its captured moments by sustaining a continuous  dialogue between presence and absence, certainty and ambiguity. Memory, as both subject and  method, shapes the structure, rhythm, and tone. It is within this stuttering space—between  remembering and forgetting—that the work prompts a reconsideration of what it means to hold onto  moments that are constantly shifting and transforming. 

Pajko Maalo is set in Skopje, my home city, and filmed in specific locations where historical family  narratives unfolded. These stories, narrated by my brother, weave past and present into an animated exchange. The streets and landscape of Macedonia still hold traces of these lived experiences, wherein each scene captures fleeting moments rich in meaning.  

Inspired by the patterns of brain activity seen in an electroencephalogram, EEG delves into the  tension between the measurable and the intangible. The sequence of moving images suggests the  challenge of representing a person’s subjective realities, while conveying the fragile and shifting  nature of memory through abstract forms and narration. 

Leading into the space is Untitled, a black and white print that provides a point of quiet stillness, anchoring the ephemeral nature of memory in a static frame. 

This assemblage of works hopes to reveal the ever-changing and multifaceted nature of memory through examining how memory resists simplification and exists instead as an evolving presence  shaped by time, place, and emotion.

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