AWDB talks to Bali-based Lydia Janssen, one of the three artists participating in Peruke Project’s September group show ‘Itinerant Practices’. Janssen will be exhibiting a selection of new works on paper alongside her iconic paintings at the upcoming London exhibition.
In your own words, what does the idea of ‘home’ mean to you?
I’ve been exploring this exact question for a while now, both in my life and in my work. Is home a concept, an idea, a person, a place, a smell? I suppose for me, it’s less about identity and patriotism, and more about the psychology of space. How do I feel in this place? Do my children feel safe? Do we feel inspired?
How has living a diasporic life shaped your practice?
There is no better education than to live in countries other than the one you are most familiar with. It forces you to adapt, to become malleable, vulnerable, and humble. In all of the places I’ve lived, the light is different, the dominant colours change, the clothing, people’s faces and the way they walk. In Dubai, the pungent smell of oud, and the vastness of the desert, the simplicity, tradition and ‘saudade’ (Portuguese word that describes a profoundly nostalgic longing for something or someone that you love) of Melides (Portugal), the river and the rain in Hamble (UK). These profound differences shape what I see, what I feel and ultimately what I choose to navigate in my work.
In your work ‘Spotlight’ and ‘Yellow Brick Road’, your expressive and figurative paintings explore the idea of ‘home’, or our quest to find it. Can you expand on this?
In my “Spotlight” series, which I began in Singapore, I was exploring the sensations that were surfacing as we made the move to Bali after seven years in Singapore. We had decided to explore a different terrain and education for our kids, but what we encountered was polar opposite in most ways. I felt exposed in Bali, overwhelmed, and these paintings were my way of communicating that. I began “Yellow Brick Road” during 2020, when we were locked out of Bali and as a result, were traveling between five countries in many failed attempts to get back. I resonated with Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz’; as she finds herself lost and misguided navigating her way back to Kansas. In this series I used images from my own childhood home in Massachusetts (USA), my Mother’s face, my Father’s pipe, as guides and pieces of nostalgia.
How has your experience as an American living a nomadic lifestyle abroad in Asia affected your perception and way of working?
I’ve now lived outside of the United States for almost 13 years, but never once when I lived in the U.S. was I asked where I was from. Yet this question is asked so often in my world now and I understand it. It works as a map leading to the next set of questions and puts people at ease with some facts. I don’t grapple with it though. My identity is not necessarily contingent upon where I was born. But I am intrigued by how place plays a role in the execution of my work. My work is autobiographical, so how could it not?
What inspires the characters and narratives depicted throughout these works?
In this exploration of home I have looked into my own childhood in the U.S. and Portugal and used images from that, pieces of nostalgia and memorabilia, keys to unlock other clues within my unconscious. I have also looked to my children and have been curious what home means to them. A bed that feels familiar, a couch, a teddy bear, a favourite food, my perfume, Mum and Dad. I will often use these obvious images as a way of guiding me through the process.
How have your methods of making these works informed their meaning?
The process is one I’m most familiar with; my way of working, the time it takes, the space I need. It’s only often after the work is almost completed where it begins to make sense to me and the narrative becomes clear. And then I bring it home.
Featuring the works of Lydia Janssen, Piers Bourke and Hélène Le Chatelier, ‘Itinerant Practices’ will run from 19 to 24 September 2023 at Cromwell Place in London.
INTERVIEW COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND PERUKE PROJECTS, AUGUST 2023.
