"Emilia Telese�s work explores the borders between the universal and the personal, the body as a means of expression, and the impact of the Anthropocene on Earth.
Telese blends printmaking and other media such as installation and performance, making inks from Icelandic minerals and etching on urban waste materials, such as polylaminate packaging and surplus construction metals available in Iceland and not easily recycled. Her etchings are often accompanied by live performances and play on the contrast between tangible and ephemeral art forms, reflecting on contemporary disposables, which in fact endure for centuries as human traces on Earth.
""At The Window"" is part of Telese's series of prints on reassembled polylaminate food packaging (beverage cartons). It explores the rhythmic patterns found on industrial and domestic waste, together with meditations on personal and world events. The work is an autobiographical view of single motherhood in a foreign country. The etching was printed with ink made by the artist from minerals found on the Sn�fellsj�kull glacier, currently retreating due to global warming. Because of the fragility of its surface, the etching matrix quickly decays and deteriorates, allowing for an extremely limited edition of each work.
Emilia Telese (Italy, 1973, lives and works in Reykjav�k, Iceland) graduated in Painting in 1996 from the Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, Italy. She lived in the UK 1997-2018 where she studied Printmaking at the University of Brighton (2003) and completed an AHRC PhD from the University of Loughborough (2020). She�s an elected member of �slensk Graf�k, the Association of Icelandic Printmakers, and S�M, the Association of Icelandic Artists.
Exhibition highlights include the Louvre (Paris), the New Forest Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Ars Electronica (Linz), ZKM (Karlsruhe), Chashama (New York), Centro Cultural Telemar (Rio De Janeiro), Leeds City Gallery, the Freud Museum (London) �slensk Graf�k (Reykjav�k). Event/performance highlights include Tate Britain, the Royal Festival Hall, the Museum of Modern Art Oxford, the Brighton Festival, Cittadellarte/Fondazione Pistoletto and more."
