Sensitive Topics. Retreat by Eilve Manglus at the A-Galerii Vault

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Eilve Manglus

Sensitive Topics speaks of the things that it might be better or perhaps more polite not to dwell on. Things considered too sensitive to discuss. Nature itself, however, knows no sensitive subjects and of nothing that deserves to be silenced. In nature, there is honesty.
A desire to touch the heart and the conscience.

What once felt like a gentle catastrophe has carried us into the eye of the storm. To keep floating forward, to calm oneself, even to enjoy it, requires the ability to control one’s thoughts and restrain one’s actions. To be able to forget …I had something to say, but I no longer remember exactly what it was. It is good that we are capable of forgetting… To step back into the role of observer. Yet sensitivity repeatedly breaks free from suppression and refuses to let us settle.

Once again, I am inspired by confusion itself, even though I always wish for a different kind of inspiration.

I gather fragments of overheard conversations, experienced places, and familiar emotions. Childhood memories. Memories from the past year. It is as though I have withdrawn and am waiting to see what is offered from somewhere beyond. A place where one cannot place orders or reject what is sent. With this offering, I continue to play, manipulate, and shape fragments of thought into jewelry.

Found materials and accidental forms. Amoebic and sponge-like, dried and cracking. The naturalness and beauty of life cycles. Duality. Disgust and false aesthetics.

Organic materials contrasted with metal that creates structure generate a sense of sensitivity. If a simple found material becomes jewelry through silver findings, is that what gives the material value? These jewelry materials can exist equally as aesthetically beautiful objects or as contemptible remains. We simply live with the understanding that one does not speak about shit and death. Yet walking on tiptoe, avoiding mistakes, and keeping one’s hands clean has never been as compelling as real life and real nature with everything that comes with it. Nature is exploited with boldness, while the natural and elemental are feared.
 
Eilve Manglus graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a degree in jewelry art (MA 2014, BA 2005) and is currently a lecturer and head of the metalwork department at the Viljandi Culture Academy of the University of Tartu. Her primary field of research is the use of photography in jewelry. In her artistic practice, Manglus combines traditional jewelry-making techniques with contemporary technological means of expression.


Opening hours: Monday to Friday: 10 am - 6 pm. Saturday: 11 am - 4 pm.
Exhibitions at A-Galerii are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. Special thanks : Mart Paadik, Iris Übner, Sireli Saar, Sonja Saar, Estframe Oü Raamikoda.
The exhibition will stay open until 27.06.2026.