Juli Majer and Vladimir Majer | Sandbox

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Juli Majer and Vladimir Majer, "Sandbox"

Courtesy of the Gallery.

Drawing from the pedagogy of sand play therapy and the embodied means by which familial histories influence individual art practices, Juli Majer invokes themes of grief, longing, remembrance and tradition by constructing intimate artifacts that act as tributes in a posthumous collaboration with her late father, Vladimir Majer. 

The titular pieces of this exhibition (two large-scale sandbox installations) echo the playful yet complex nature of Majer’s practice while further eliciting conversations between Majer and her late father, by shedding light on the commonalities that exist in their creative processes and neurodivergent perceptions of reality.  

The goal of therapeutic interventions like sand play therapy is to allow its participants to actively construct scenes and miniature worlds that reflect their inner thought, struggles and concerns. Through play and worldbuilding, this exhibition presents an alternative method of creatively and openly processing trauma while provoking dialogue and critique on the prevalent societal stance regarding grief, mental health and the role of art within the gallery walls. 

“Grief is one of life's passages we all experience. It is one of life's equalizers, A shared experience for every man and woman who lives.” - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler

In Octavia Butler's Fledgling, the book's main character, Shori, suffers from amnesia following the death of her immediate family and community members and her first memories are of a world made strange by grief. The reader follows Shori as she attempts to reconnect with her forgotten self and make sense of the events that occurred prior to her [re]emergence in the world, all while carrying the burden of grief she is uncertain belongs to her and consequently does not believe she has the right to feel. As Fledgling progresses, the reader has cause to speculate that Shori's amnesia is a trauma response to the loss she endured, which further raises questions on the different ways that grief affects individuals, the incongruities between grief and mourning, and finally, the possibility, if such exists, to move past grief and loss.

In Sandbox, exhibiting artist Juli Majer explores the conceptual rhetoric surrounding grief posed by Butler in Fledgling and ties it to their lived experience by exploring themes of remembrance, familial bonds, longing and artistic risk that manifest through Juli's intimately constructed artifacts that respond to and exist in conversation with paintings created by their late father, Vladimir Majer. A theme central to this exhibition's premise is the clarity that could be found through the mourning process and the grief that follows after losing a loved one. Like Shori, Juli attempts to gain clarity following her father's passing by reconstructing and reassessing a shared reality and invoking artistic gestures and symbols that act as a pathway towards facilitating intentional inspiration and conversations between Juli and their late father's artistic practices.

To that effect, the work in Sandbox acts as a tribute to the lives of Juli and Vladimir, a posthumous collaboration. These works are an intimate call and response, provoking dialogue on the commonalities between their artistic practices, creative processes and neurodivergent perceptions of reality. This visual conversation is made most apparent through the mediums of their artworks; in Juli's practice, she investigates the interrelations between 2D and 3D art objects and the exchange, possibilities and unique encounters that emerge when both materials are showcased in close proximity to one another. Thus, the transformation of 2D paintings by Vladimir to 3D ceramics works by Juli acts as the foundation for the construction of a liminal space where the things left unsaid between Juli and their father can emanate. In this unseen space, the traditional incongruities between life and death, student and teacher, and daughter and father become blurred and are replaced by a love sustained through longing, respect and admiration.

The focal points of this exhibition are the two large-scale sandboxes situated at the centre of the gallery space. The sandbox installations are carved with drawings by Juli and act as a vessel to hold their ceramic pieces and facilitate the conversation between Juli and Vladimir. The sandboxes are an artistic reference to the sand play therapy that Juli engaged with as a child following their father's passing. The goal of sand play therapy is to allow its participants to utilize the sandbox in the creation of miniature worlds that visualize and reflect their inner thoughts, struggles and concerns. For Juli, sand play therapy acted as a safe form of escapism that allowed them to process their emotions and practice their creativity while engaging with their unconscious mind, which has further contributed to their current practice and interest in world-building.

The practice of world-building typified in Sandbox sheds light on another commonality in the artistic practices of Juli and Vladimir, as both of their practices involve envisioning and depicting worlds and scenes beyond ours inspired by fragments of their cognitions of reality. In this exhibition, the sandboxes mirror the inner worlds that Juli actively assembles that abstract reality but does not shy away from the issues of the present. In consequence, these sandboxes allow Juli to actively move through their memories of their childhood and their father by using artistic gestures to come to terms with their reality but going further to envision otherwise.