Thresholds by Iris Maria Tusa
Based in Romania
Thresholds is an evocative photographic series that transforms childhood memories from the Dobrogea region into a rich tapestry of visual storytelling. Through this project, the Artist invites viewers to look beyond the superficial and discover the emotional depth within individuals from a deprived socio-economic context.
Rather than documenting reality, Thresholds serves as a metaphorical bridge between memory and imagination, reality and fantasy. The series explores different layers of memory, moving from the exterior of people’s homes into their private worlds, from the solitude of barren lands to the lively play of children, and from digital to polaroid images that evoke dreams and nostalgia.
Each image in Thresholds acts as a fragment of memory, offering a unique and introspective glimpse into the Artist’s past while encouraging viewers to connect with their own memories and experiences.
Artist Statement
“Thresholds aims to encapsulate the emotions evoked by my childhood memories, in the Dobrogea region, and transform them into meaningful images to coax the audience into finding the different dimensions of what they might see as mere personages living in a deprived socio-economic context.
By lifting them out of this context and reframing them, I aim to convey meaningful flashes from my childhood memories that viewers can relate to, even if the shape of the memory is different. ‘Thresholds’ is not primarily an arch of entering and leaving in a geographical lived space that endured through history and time, but rather a passing bridge between memory and imagination, reality, and fantasy. In this sense, l used photography more as an artistic and metaphorical tool rather than an instrument of documentary evidence.
The series presents a continuous visualization of images that blend, a "glissando" over different layers exploring elements of memory. Each layer is marked by a threshold I have crossed during my investigative photographic quest: initially from the outside of people's homes into their privacy, then from the bare lands' solitude to the animated play of the children, and lastly from digital images to polaroid images that explore my dreams, and nostalgia about the ephemeral childhood. Like the fragments of memories, each of the layers presents a discrete visualization of images, each one speaking by itself.”
