My painting must be a part of a context or a concept. Most of all they need to belong to a story that isnt mine. Ïn the past years I have begun to use an artistic approach involving neuropsychology. Mainly the neurological processes that form a sense of an identity, or a sense of Self. My artistic process has always involved other people, both because I use their shapes on canvas but also because I have to have something to lean on while painting. Before I use a model I always ask for a personal event or story that somehow connects the person and the current thematic. What they choose to tell me is important. Im the one who gathers and transfer these stories visually. Subtle or obvious but the important part is that the story can be linked and associated with the viewer and other narrators. Most recently I have begun to examine how a coherent identity is constructed. Primarily focusing on the narrative self that most scientists and philosophers argue is what we call an identity or a Self. It means that we form an Self by creating an internalised story about ourselves. This story contains our perceived past, present, and our imagined future. It includes characters, episodes and themes and often follow the traditional model of a story. In my artistic practise I have choosen to claim that this is how a personal identity is constructed. Therefor I claim that what im doing is to create a genereal Self. I collect stories and episodes from different identities and place them in a paralell universe alongside of ours. Where conversations and stories would be shapes and visual perceptions all interconnected in a groupidentity of encounters that never happend.
© Amanda Karlsson | Artist Biography, Artworks & Gallery | amandakarlsson.com/
