DAWLINE-JANE ONI-ESELEH

INSIDE/OUTSIDE

MATERIALS

Model magic, artificial moss, wood branches, acrylic case

CONSIDERATIONS

How do materials and place infer meaning to artwork?
What role does documentation have on memory?
Who belongs and who has access to different spaces?
How does shelter-in-place change our interaction with the environment around us?
How many hidden artworks can you find in the installation?

ARTWORK NOTES

Inside/Outside is a series of four handmade natural object vignettes contained in acrylic cubes placed off the north side of Berryman Path in Live Oak Park just below Oxford Street. Like a game of I Spy, the four pieces hide from view in plain sight. They reflect the tension between real and make believe, what is indigenous and what is imported, and what is accessible and what is constrained. The distinct feeling of being boxed in and isolated from our surroundings over the last six months of the pandemic emerges from the pieces as well.

Dawline-Jane first visited this site in late February, just as the new Berkeley spring bloom burst forth. The creek was flowing, the trees were budding, and the new plant growth exploding. Now as the seasons shift into fall, the tone of the pieces is a bit different. Instead of budding life, they suggest a closing in and preparing for the next phase of growth to come.

ARTIST BACKGROUND

Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh is a visual artist and illustrator whose current work is focused primarily on the shifting urban landscape. An avid observer and prolific photographer, she employs a vast catalog of visual notes and memories to create her work. A lover of materials and process, Dawline-Jane uses a range of media including relief print making, pen and ink, photo transfer and encaustic. She has exhibited at Oxtail Gallery, NIAD Gallery, Southern Exposure, and has been a Print Public Artist-in-Residence at Kala.