March 6th until March 28th, 2020

Anja Stenina’s GS Artists solo show explores the break down of communication between ideological positions. “You know what I mean” exemplifies the way in which discourse is broken, limited without elaboration or resolution. She uses metaphysical personifications of the Ages of Aquarius and Pisces to symbolise antithetical ideological perspectives at a point of impasse and physically locates the viewer within the grey area between binary standpoints.

Anja is a conceptual mixed media artist from Latvia. She holds a first class honours degree from Swansea College of Art (University of Wales Trinity Saint David) – Anja will complete her Research Masters degree in Art & Design there last summer – and was a recipient of the Brian Ross Award from the Arts Council for Wales. In her work she explores themes of dignity and human agency, and the obstacles on the journey to a fulfilling life. The artist’s visual practice reflects upon the dominant culture from the perspective of marginalised members of society. She looks at choices people make, and the reasons behind them. The artist investigates the effects of the semiotic authority that underlies the symbols and stories of a dominant culture. In her visual practice, Stenina echoes the more commonplace manifestations of semiotic authority such as mundane behavioral protocols, societal norms and stereotypes. In her work Stenina playfully portrays the effects of the everyday mythologised body of ‘reality’ that arguably manifests itself in situations of symbolic abuse. Stenina’s artworks provide an environment for reflection upon the mundane ritualised objectification found within stereotypical acts.