Painting

Elena Bernal Donnellan

Death in the Afternoon is a metaphor for our present days. A symbol of the pain, suffering and melancholy that the pandemic has spread across the world. An expression of premature endings and the overwhelming sense of restriction.

To visually explore Death in the Afternoon, Elena draws on the sense of safety and escape from the anxieties of reality that the home provides for each of us individually and for society. By focusing on the delicacy of blankets and clothes (our protection from the outside world), and zooming in on the creases and folds near the edges, she highlights the line between safety and the unknown. Through emphasising the emptiness and stillness of the space around them in the work, these observed environments detach themselves from reality, building a semi-abstract landscape, a dreamland of sorts, an alternative to our restricted milieu. The intensive studying of these mundane objects acts as a momentary distraction from the ever-growing surreal nature of our society.

In a world where the extraordinary is becoming the new ordinary, Elena chooses to highlight the extraordinary in the ordinary.

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