On Water, Genetic Memory, and Containment: A conversation with Amber Toplisek
By Sasha Fishman
Excerpt:
Amber Toplisek is an interdisciplinary artist exploring the network of images that reside within the body, functioning as an imperceptible alchemy that influences and guides our lives. Amber’s work engages with different methods of obfuscation and utilizes both kinetic and still interventions in order to extend an encounter with a photographic image. In preparation for her solo exhibition at mimo in Brooklyn, I spoke with Amber about the new body of work she will be exhibiting, the intricacies of working with water, and how the materiality of glass and photographs relate to her experience becoming a mother reflecting on generational memory.
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SF
I wanted to also talk about your photographs. Regarding the images that you've been capturing and putting onto the glass pieces, are those memories? They're very colorful and dreamy, but also a bit melancholic.
AT
Most images are stills from videos I shot in New York when I was pregnant last year. I have this old video camera camcorder that I used to document my time walking around the streets. I was thinking about generations and familial relationships on my maternal side since my mother’s parents are from New York. A lot of the stills are outtakes of using the super zoom function. It would get really close to certain objects, to the point where I couldn't even piece together what I was actually recording. I like that fissure of looking back and it's a new experience of watching it versus recording it.
SF
I'm curious about how you see transparency in your practice, especially with glass and water.
AT
I'm really drawn to transparency, I'm fascinated by the physical properties of glass and I learned recently that it's actually a super cooled liquid, so it's related to water in that way. I'm also drawn to glass because it can make photos feel more tangible. Putting them on glass it's also an early way that photographs were captured onto, like glass plate negatives. There's also a time jump into the way we consume images today, primarily through our phone screens. That constant touching and feeling on the surface of our phones, so flat, but also visceral.
