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Olenka
Limburg

Ode to Sorrow

The work ‘Ode to Sorrow’ is an installation that evokes the silence needed to experience sorrow and see it for what it is and could be. That is, something not to be ashamed of and a state of being one can learn to live with. With this work, I aim to honestly show my experience of sorrow and share a metaphor for those who do not know how to communicate their own.

This work reflects the moment where one sets the stage to experience what is happening within themselves by closing the door to their bathroom, taking a pause from the outside world, and focussing on their inner world. Where one steps into a bathtub and, with eyes closed and ears underwater, can listen to what is inside them. Within this created vacuum, one can confront their inner sorrow and begin to mend this wound.

The installation recreates this sensation by guiding the viewer through multiple layers of hanging white sheets. Within these, the viewer hears a subtle soundscape reflecting despair. These sheets create a barrier that disconnects
the viewer from the outside world. Once gotten through this barrier, the viewer arrives in the centre space where
the soundscape is not playing. A sculpture of a woman lying in a sunken bathtub, with her eyes closed and ears underwater, is on the ground. My goal is for the viewer to have an intimate experience with this sculpture. For them to recognise the sensation the woman is experiencing and experience it vicariously through her themselves.

Work by Olenka Limburg

Instagram: @oeloenkoe.koenst