Occasionally, the realm of jewellery and commodities shift together very closely... Objects of use often become intimately precious and indispensable to us, as it happens sometimes to a piece of jewellery that we wear day in, day out. I'm fascinated by this aspect of personal preciousness that I observe in relation to all kinds of belongings as, for example the china collections on people's walls, might achieve a huge emotional value next to its material one.

Wearing jewellery on the body is the most intimate, but also direct form of showing this specific relationship to an object. By using materials, shapes, fragments and typical patterns out of another daily context as base the for my jewellery I transfer their meaning and emotional impact in my works. The ceramic kitchen necklaces might function as a souvenir, a profane relic. They investigate what preciousness in a broader sense.

I seek to subvert jewelry as a signifier of access to luxury, as excessive embellishment has historically signified wealth, civility and authority. From historical representations of jewelry, rendered by acknowledged designers and painters, my work replicates, revises, and objectifies the image. This inquiry is not with the intention of a stylistic historicism, or of a reverent resurgence of history, but rather it is a self-conscious simulation and revision of the past. Taking on the role of the archivist, I am investigating the history of jewelry and luxury goods, which is largely descriptive, a record of connoisseurship and ownership, rather than a critical inquiry into the context of jewelry and material culture over time, and across cultures. With this misplaced or mis-documented past, my interest is in ascertaining the traces that remain, as seeking a true or complete history is a precarious endeavor. I reconsider historical memory, investigate potential diversions in historical narratives, and examine the unclear in these constructed histories.

The sources of my work originate as documented historical sketches by renowned jewelry designers of the Baroque era, as representations of jewelry painted by famed Baroque painters, and as photographs of Victorian jewelry. In the Baroque era, fashion shifted quickly, pieces were melted and jewels recycled, leaving few remaining works to record the evolving tendencies of that moment. Sketches, engravings, and paintings are much of what document the richest history of jewelry of that time. I use these various forms of representation to inform my understanding of one another, and to piece together a distant understanding of this history. Works resulting from this inquiry are mediated copies of historical representations.

In translating these historical records into objects, I became interested in articulating the work in a place between drawing and object, an idea of the piece and the thing itself. Their surfaces are blank, matte, and paper-white, with steel-gray burnished marks to articulate the graphite lines of their sourced drawings. In parts of the piece where historical information is unclear, I place a blank spot, a shallow cube that seemingly covers a section of the piece. I lift the representations directly from their origins, in the perspective that they are delivered, with their visual obstructions and blind spots left intact. Through simulation, illusion, obstruction, and fragmentation, the work challenges luxury as it hovers in a space that is simultaneously present and absent, excessive and blank, artificial and real.

ANYA KIVARKIS 

I'm fascinated by inherent transformative qualities of seemingly banal/common place objects and isolating the moment when materials progress from their original form into something more beautiful and precious.

Delicate and light, so subtle,
almost as if it could be easily be harmed,
demanding careful and gentle handling.

I continuously endeavor to find these interior qualities and bring them into a piece of jewelry. To me jewelry isn't just about gold, diamonds and lots of precious gems, nor is it about using materials that shock or disturb. My jewelry is a place of discovery; a reflection of the world in which I inhabit.