Mella Jaarsma

(b. 1960)

The Talisman

Footnotes

Provenance
Private Singaporean Collection

Exhibited
Singapore, ArtSpace@Helutrans, Subject Shall Remain Anonymous, 2012

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Born in Emmeloord, the Netherlands, Mella Jaarsma (b.1960) has lived and worked in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, since 1984. Most renowned for her body-covering shelters made out of unexpected materials that symbolise protection. Her works also allude to the isolation of human beings and the need for a filtered approach to the world.

She works closely with clothing and sees them as bodily modifications of the social space between layers of skin, clothing, sartorial inhibition, and housing/architecture. We are like impermanent buildings with a façade of which the inside is changeable. The second skin that we wear is like a house in which we can appear and hide; we have to be ready to leave or inhabit it.

Jaarsma's The Talisman is inspired by samurai shields. These shields are usually made of chains and connected into a linear and open but highly protective construction. It is not a physical shield using new and old chains and necklaces, but it gives the wearer immaterial protection through incorporated, hypothetical amulets.

Image and text courtesy of Mella Jaarsma