Merging Into Pieces by Camilla Prey

Artist list

Camilla Prey

While jewellers are well aware of these changes, for some, this concept might be new. Put simply, jewellery in the post-war era has emerged as a medium with newfound flexibility, incorporating the universal codes and languages of post-war art practices. This suggests that throughout its existence, jewellery has run alongside (sometimes even merging with) the other arts as they transitioned from modernism to post-modernism and into contemporary periods. They've shared similar symbols and meanings, becoming a reflection of the philosophical zeitgeist, encapsulating how people perceive their era.
 
Camilla Prey's work delves into these shared languages and heritage. The process she employs to achieve her results takes centre stage in her work and represents a practice of language positioning. The objects that remain from this process are performative; they act as instruments one or more individuals activate to attain meaning or awareness. Though provocative in their departure from traditional expectations of materiality and wearability in jewellery, Prey's pieces foster new connections to the body and between bodies through experimentation, thus creating meaning within this interaction. This aligns with the exhibition's title "Merging into Pieces" at Tereza Seabra Gallery.
 
As her pieces straddle the border between mediums, they can be interpreted from various perspectives beyond a jeweller's. Despite Tereza Seabra Gallery's specialisation in jewellery, this exhibition serves as a testament to the fact that jewellery itself is a complex interconnected network reflective of contemporary times and its practices in an increasingly digital, interconnected, and intricate world. Prey's work juxtaposes layers of technical information to reveal the culmination of her work, ultimately highlighting the significance of jewellery in modern times as if the object alone is insufficient or ineffective in doing so.
/ Pedro Sequeira 08.02.24 Adaption to English Kseniia Kalashnova

Opening: 24th February from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm