Since my last interview with Ciane Xavier, the world has changed so much, but she hasn’t let that hold her back. She has constantly been developing and growing her techniques and styles. Ciane’s exploration into identity loss falls close to home for majority of us, and has us questioning ourselves and those we have around us.
Continue reading to learn all about Ciane Xavier’s new developments…
I want a connection with it; I want the viewer to feel connected as well, and the most important of all… I want to manifest through it.
Since our last interview, almost a year ago, has your work progressed in a new direction?
It has in a way that I started experimenting with 3D, VIRTUAL REALITY, VIDEO and SOUNDS technology and implement it as media for my works.
Are the feelings of identity loss and reconstruction still a major part of your practice?
Yes they are still part of my creative process but also I want to question the viewer about their own identity and hopefully awake something on them that they were not aware of.
How has COVID-19 affected your work? Have you lost work opportunities, gained more creative time, etc.?
For my experience, I did gain more creative time; I found that I could focus more in my work without the distractions that the World can give, and for me I feel I have been more productive.
Do times like these make you question your decision to become a full time artist?
No, it actually gives me more assurance that what I am doing is what I was always supposed to be doing, in times like this, it’s when we need art the most, so we can distract from what is happening right now worldwide.
In our last interview, we spoke about how you explore the boundaries of today’s society – how has what’s been happening around the world (BLM in America, Women Marches in Mexico and Turkey, Beirut’s explosion, etc.) affected your practice? Has it influenced it in away or are you creating work that is separate to it?
Yes, I think it does in a way; that’s why I feel the urge to question the viewer thru my work, but also I think my work became more spiritual in a way. I want a connection with it; I want the viewer to feel connected as well, and the most important of all… I want to manifest through it.
I think the best we can do now is to connect to our inner selves, and use this opportunity to do things we didn’t have time for before. I think what’s happening is a wake up call for us to see our actions and the way we relate to each other, ourselves, and nature.
Yes, I think because of that, I had to think in different ways to display my art, so for my latest solo exhibit, here in the Philippines I created a Virtual Reality World of my exhibit, and the artworks gain their own reality into the physical life of the gallery space where the impossible become possible, and it gave me full access of all senses for the viewer to experience. Please, you can check the exhibit website at www.when-everything-stops.com; it’s like a game out of the physical exhibit.
What is one moto/piece of advice that is getting you through these difficult times?
I think the best we can do now is to connect to our inner selves, and use this opportunity to do things we didn’t had time for before. I think what’s happening is a wake up call for us to see our actions and the way we relate to each other, ourselves, and nature. I think it’s a reboot in our society in some way, and I think the best advice I could give is to reconnect to your spiritual being and nature, be open and accept that changes do occur and the only way to make sense out of the changes is to plunge into it, move with it and join the dance.
Has COVID-19 made you miss anything or make you want to do something you never thought you wanted to do before? (i.e. solo travel, learn a language, take dance classes, etc.)
Yes, this COVID situation brought something good; we all had time to do things we always wanted but never had time too, I started learning music production, and playing guitar, hahaha.
Where do you see yourself and your practice in the next 5 years?
I see my practice getting more mature and expanding my message to further places and being able to manifest my being through my work.
