Gabriella Presnal
Biography
Born in Germany and having grown up living in countries like Sweden, Canada, and multiple states in the U.S., Gabriella Presnal (b.2001) is a Finnish-American artist currently based between Helsinki and Copenhagen. Their works stem from investigating positionality, heritage, and memory. Presnal has developed a practice of using discarded materials in their works, such as broken cabling, paper machè, cardboard, bio-inks, and cellulose-based biomaterials. The use of discarded and broken waste and found objects is influenced by subverting everyday objects that typically have a non-art function and transforming the object’s function into art.
Hold.2024. Gabriella Presnal
Hold
2024
35x35x220cm
Broken electric cabling from Aalto University: the AV Takeout, Mechatronics, Behavioral Lab, the Health Technology building, and Fab Lab.
The process takes broken cabling and uses simple self-taught basket weaving techniques to transform a two-dimensional landscape into something three-dimensional. Weaving was used as a starting point from a cultural aspect as I am half Finnish but did not grow up here or grow up being close with grandparents (who could pass on these techniques for example). Deleuze and Guattari refer to weaving as the most striated - or controlled/measured - form of “nomad art” as there is no space to aerate within the confines of a tightly woven square. Nomad art applies the characteristics of land and space they discuss to art. The series aims to reclaim what is described as a striated space and transform it into something smooth or nomadic where it can be permeated. The materials address a feeling of artificiality or alienation from one's culture as one attempts to self-learn one's culture through digital means (YouTube videos on weaving).
