Mara Liem: “Hundred Secret Senses”

This exhibition is named after a book by Chinese American author Amy Tan that goes pretty much by thesame title, in which the secret senses refer to primitive instincts that humans had before their brains developed language and the higher functions. Senses that do not only provide a channel of communication between the yang (reality) and yin (the shadow land) worlds, but also suggest an extra sensory aspect of human beings that modern science fails to explain. – Take, as an example, the little hairs that tingle in the back of your neck when someone behind you is watching you. – These senses seem to connect to a mysterious, illusive part of the human world, where the boundaries between light and dark, yang and yin
and the rational and irrational fade and disappear.

Mara Liem (1980) was born and raised in Amsterdam, lived in Finland and Iceland for a significant time and graduated at the Academie van Kunst en Vormgeving (now: AKV| Sint Joost) in Den Bosch in 2007.
Her work seems to exist in a strange, distorted reality, where intimacy, secrets and fable are key. Mara loves to play with appearance and concealment and uses this as a means to enchant those who behold it.

From August 4 until October 31, the exhibition will be displayed at Black Gold Amsterdam, Korte Koningsstraat 13 in Amsterdam. During the exhibition, the publication Embraces, will also be available. The publication contains 20 pages of photos and text about Mara’s work.