Struggle Part VI: Evelien Jaspers

‘Versus’ is an organization consisting of Dutch photography students (the Royal Academy of Arts in the Hague), creating a parallel group exhibition with CAFA (the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing) about various subjects concerning the theme: ‘struggle’. Versus is neither a plead for pessimism nor of a cynical nature but rather a celebration of opposites in the grand scheme of life. Versus’ aim is to address some of these experiences, by means of visual transcript.

In order to understand and to some extend partake in the process leading to this visual presentation, Versus reports about their process in a weekly column, which will indirectly function as a forum on their weblog: www.expoversus.tumblr.com

Each column features a different student and an aspect of his or her motivation, progress and personal working method. The process and research of Evelien Jaspers – and the result of prepared interviews and insight lead by fellow photography student Timothy Zwitser – inspire this week’s column.

Memories are fleeting. Like tracks on the railway of your life’s locomotive. Always changing shape, bending, polished out by the movement of time. Some of these tracks are stet: written on a proof to signify that an erasure is to be disregarded. These are the unclouded memories you grab hold of with both hands, never wanting to let go. Evelien Jaspers’ current work addresses the memento of poignant sorrow or misfortune. That’s the memoir we tuck away somewhere in the dark corners of our minds, hoping it never happened. One characteristic consequence of misfortunate events is the way they trigger the psychological disguise: commonly known as; suppressed memory. We might try to suppress, but instead we unveil. The emotional current flowing through the data storage components sometimes surge uncontrollably through our minds, until they manifest as fragmented flashbacks of unwanted memories.

“A particular song by Placebo used to be the soundtrack to a series of significant events in my adolescent life. I played this album all the time. So many times even that pieces of the disc got worn out and I could only listen to parts of the song. I never replaced it, because it’s drenched in bright memories.”

The immediate source of inspiration for the realisation of Jasper’s Echo originates from personal events from her distant past. In order to keep them alive, she chooses not to comment on the details. The frustration that attends with the memories we want to forget is a shared experience. That’s why it’s important to Jaspers that the content enables the observer to project a personal memory onto the photographs. In order to accomplish this condition she mainly works with photo sequences; repeatedly displaying the same familiar environment where something paramount could’ve taken place. In a way; she relies on a common sense of nostalgia.
“The foundation of my project is personal. In order to make it communal, I gear to written research and similar memories of friends and acquaintances. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to establish a kind of ‘blank canvas environment’.” Another element to Evelien Jaspers’ Echo’ is the depiction of suppression by ways of physical intervention. A photograph is a memory, proof. We could think of countless ways of erasing a photographic afterthought. Evelien demonstrates the sensibilities of suppressed memory by showing mental rejection in a physical manner: “I call it: mind to matter.” It goes to show that even the smallest personal defect contributes to the translation of photographs. Photography, in most cases, is a form of therapy. A way of depicting life; and in the end, we try to drop the anchor into steady seas. “I choose the form and content of each photo intuitively, so that interpretation is wanted. I don’t want my work to be read as heavily suggestive or inflexible; that could render as a judgement of the viewers inept. Which is ludicrous; imagination is a powerful human trademark and I want to make use of it.”

Evelien Jaspers’ Echo:

-January 13th
-Opening Event
-Exhibition Versus

At Creatief Warenhuis Hoop,Grote Markt 10-13, The Hague.

www.expoversus.nl
www.evelienjaspers.nl

 

Work in progress for Expo Versus from Evelien Jaspers on Vimeo.

Also read previous columns about the Versus photographers. Part I focusses on Christy Beaujon’s work, Part II on Shalita Dietrich’s photographs, Part III on Marin Leus, Part IV on Jikke de Gruijter and Part V is about Reinier van der Lingen’s work.