group exhibition “my story is a story of a story...”
curated by kaisa eiche
gallery ag47, tartu
2023
photobooth strips, handwritten text on random rubbish, magnetic paint on wall
curator kaisa eiche: “birgit kaleva’s work is the result of an unexpected and, for the artist, irritating realisation she arrived at while in berlin on an internship, taking portrait series of herself in photo booths after exhausting workdays. i don’t know anyone whose parents don’t get on their nerves in at least some way. by the time we reach adolescence, we usually begin carefully mapping the traits and behavioural patterns we strictly try to avoid in ourselves. this thought process often goes hand in hand with imagining ourselves as parents.
the photo series is accompanied by the thoughts of a young woman — hidden in an autobiographical, literary form — who is largely uninterested in the social role-play that always casts the mother as a secondary yet idealised figure, domestic and surrounded by many children.”