Katerina Šedá

At the beginning of the Final Major Project i visited an exhibition in Sheffield Millenium Galleries. I was particularily excited to see the work of Katerina Šedá as i had read that her work touches on ideas of community, memory and collective identity. In the past many of my own projects have centered around very similar themes. The exhibition had wide and tall boards covered with grids of paper. Each sheet displays one simple sketch created using different methods. Each sketch is of a persons profile, all of them similar yet very different at the same time.

"Many of us experience disconnection. Walking around city centres, passing hundreds of stranger’s faces without second glances. Overlooking faces; fascinating with expression, lines and stories. As an artist and human being I want more connection. To learn I want to connect, to interact. So I was excited to explore the latest exhibition at the Millennium Galleries ‘Lisen Profile’ by Katerina Seda. A social art project attempting to reconnect a community broken by modern infrastructure.
Twenty years ago her hometown of Lisen was divided when the central meeting point was replaced by a supermarket and major road, depleting a local sense of community. Lisen Profile is Seda’s process to reconnect people together with the place, encouraging a greater sense of community. Over 500 participants followed the same guidelines. You would make a profile of the town’s landscape including the town’s church in the skyline, using whatever medium, pencil, clay, paint etc. Then find a persons profile in the horizon your drawing. You take this profile to the streets of lisen, where you search for a face that resembles it. The drawing’s soul mate. Then you connect with this person, confirm they live in lisen and draw their profile in black ink. After this the profiles are turned horizontal so they resemble a horizon again."