STUDIO VISIT: Fabiola Menchelli
From the series Through the Green Veil
I have a weakness for photography and alternative processes.
Fabiola Menchelli’s bodies of work uses traditional darkroom processes in a highly experimental, deeply physical and challenging personal engagement with the materials to feel-out landscapes and constructions in the dark.
Clad in hazmat protective gear, she sculpts the photographic page using chemical exposures, capturing the effects and qualities of light from liquid and gas. Driven to “get in between the lens and the paper, breaking into photography” she questions the medium through its materiality, seeking to find what lies beyond the mirror pointing out at the world.
The resulting constructions are otherworldly, created in a manual process that takes out the machine, going beyond the analog and inviting the viewer to linger between the folds of another possible world, one with queer angles and horizons.
It was such a delight to visit her studio while I was in Mexico City recently. I am deeply appreciative of the time she took to walk me through her work and inspiration.
"I want to break into photography,
to get in between the lens and the paper
to the chemical process."
Interested in Menchelli’s work?
Feel welcome to contact Audra with questions by email at audra@artartefact.com.
From DARK MOVES, mounted on steel
AUDRA KIEWIET DE JONGE IN FRONT OF A WORK BY ROSALIND TALLMADGE COMMISSIONED FOR THE OPUS ONE ROTUNDA. PHOTOGRAPH BY BORIS ZHARKOV.
Art/artefact is a nationally recognized art advisory and interior design practice founded by Audra Kiewiet de Jonge and known for placing a great collection at the heart of every interior.
Formally trained as a painter and an art historian, Audra’s modern sensibility is informed by her historical perspective—bringing art and objects into context and conversation with the way we live today.
Working with private and corporate clients nationally, our interiors are meticulously curated and expertly built to be high on artistry, but not on pretense.
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