Footnotes

Provenance
Private Singaporean Collection

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

*Please note that this lot is located in Singapore. Buyer is responsible to arrange shipping from present location of lot to buyer's desired destination. To enquire shipping quote, please contact singapore@bonhams.com

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