ROY presents: Alicia Link
Syrena
My interdisciplinary work uses fantasy and humor to explore the relationship between loss, love, and the body. Paintings, objects, and video, in relationship to one another, offer a multiplicity of interpretations and affects while lingering in a space that draws attention to the invisibility of trauma.
I often think about collective neglect or avoidance. I think about my late mother, a Polish immigrant. I think about my Babcia (grandmother) who grew up in the small coal mining town, Jaworzno, in Southern Poland and survived both Nazi and Communist occupation. Jaworzno was also the site of a sub camp of Auschwitz known as the SS. Arbeitslager Neu-Dachs. Prisoners were forced to work in the coal mines to support the German war industry. After her own mother was imprisoned by the Nazis, Babcia assumed the role and responsibilities of a mother and a caregiver. She would walk to the mines and collect coal to heat the home and cook food for her family. Babcia blames this regular chore for her small stature.
Babcia and my mother’s experiences cause me to wonder--what are the lasting effects of intergenerational trauma? I’m still unpacking and uncovering these turbulent stories of war, heartache, and disease.
The physical distance, language barrier, and an incomplete family history lend themselves to story-telling and invention. It was during a visit to the motherland in Warsaw that I first saw the Syrenka Warszawska (a monument of a mermaid situated in Warsaw’s “Old Town”) and have since been co-opting its myth and likeness into my work. Through a process of making and play, I make decisions that alter, enhance, or obscure narratives while blurring reality and fantasy. Embodiment becomes a way to arrive at a more intimate and authentic and interpretation of history.
ROY asks
1. What is your name and preferred pronouns?
Alicia Link , she / her / hers
2. How has art (whether it be your own or art in general) changed you?
Art has affected the way I see and touch the world. In recent years, it’s made me hyper aware of my body in different spaces both intimate and institutional. It’s been a tool to process, to invent, and to hold space for moments that could be lost or forgotten.
3. How did you start your artistic practice?
I can’t remember a beginning. I have always made things and found ways to perform whether it was drawing of a family member or wearing all purple and calling myself the “grape lady.” However, I would say I became more serious about making things in college when I made the decision to switch from a chemistry major to a painting major. That’s when I gave myself permission to turn this into a life.
4. When a first-time viewer sees your work, what is the first word that you hope they think when looking at it?
raw