I am not from here, nor there
Daleen Nel Hall
15.10.20 - 19.11.20
AVA New Media Gallery
“No soy de aquí ni soy de allá” (“I am not from here, nor there”)
These lyrics by 1970s classic Argentine troubadour Facundo Cabral best sums up the sense of uprootedness, otherness and emotional detachment experienced by displaced people when relocated to foreign surroundings, into societies often ‘unwelcoming’ of outsiders.
In this body of work entitled “I am not from here, nor there” Daleen Nel Hall explores the emotional and psychological effects of displacement as a result of migrating. Be it forced or voluntary migration, due to socio-economic and/or political circumstances, migrating forces one to morph into a new shape. This shape many feel like alien and one may struggle to recognize one's own identity and become detached from ‘self’ and the world.
The morphing shape of the triangle becomes an important visual metaphor in this body of work – representing ‘fitting in’ ( Δ is also the notation symbol for displacement. This notation reflects the fact that displacement is the difference between two positions, namely a change in position), which is echoed by the image of the airplane.
Displacement is represented in a series of still photographs depicting the metamorphoses of identity caused by forced change or migration. The images are supported by a short film called "Chasing Shadows". The still photographs depict the outer or visible loss of identity while the video clip reflects this loss on a subconscious and emotional level. Together they form the body of work “I am not from here, nor there”.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Daleen Nel Hall has practiced variously as artist, art educator, and photography lecturer since obtaining her BA (ed) Art Degree at the University of Pretoria in 1995, where she majored in Printmaking. In 1996 she started her career as art educator, heading up the Visual Art, Design & Photography Departments at two well-known high schools in Pretoria, Gauteng. During this 11-year tenure, she received several teaching awards, amongst which: Overall Winner of BEELD Newspaper’s Teaching & Education (1999) as well as Winner of the MTN Art Institute Educators Award for Best Art Department in Gauteng in 2006 and again as Runner-Up in 2007 for MTN Art Institute’s Best Art Department in Gauteng. In 2014, after moving to Cape Town, Nel Hall started working as a full-time artist and photographer. She currently lectures part-time at the Cape Town School of Photography.
She has participated in several group Art & Photography exhibitions including the Fuji Film Proudly South African Exhibition hosted in the U.S.A. in 2004; There’s something important about Beauty at The Tina Skukan Gallery in Pretoria in 2008 ; 42 on Main in Pretoria as well as at Diptych (2017) at CTSP Open Space Gallery; and again in 2018 & 2019 at the CTSP Open Space Gallery in Cape Town. More recently her work was featured at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2020 at the AVA Gallery's exhibition stand and at the group exhibition 'Live' with a silent auction- at the AVA Gallery during September 2020.
