Christel Pilkaer Thomsen

Shifts between Figuration and Abstraction 

The work Tracing Entities is a collection of different segments from a greater body of work created by Christel Pilkaer Thomsen, during her time studying Photography at the RCA.

Tracing Entities explores different issues of identity, memory and representation centring around contemporary political problematics. In this first chapter, the presented work deals with the subject of trauma and healing from war and the psychological complications that people who have been exposed to traumatic events, especially from war, have to deal with. The work is based on personal stories and encounters with Danish veterans who are dealing with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and collective responses to trauma. In relation to this, the work wants to explore how photography can be used as a tool to visualise the non-visible. Through different strategies, by working collaboratively with the subjects involved in the project, through conversations with the subjects, traditional analogue portraiture, documentary photography and through abstract and alternative photographic processes, the work creates a constant shift between figuration and abstraction. This specific work explores the dualistic relationship between what has been exposed and developed, the physical and the psychological, what is whole and what is broken, the personal and the abstract, the tangible and non-visible, and most importantly, the process and the result, since it is through the process that the work engages with the subjects, methods and materials.

In the installation of Tracing Entities for the Degree Show 2019, Christel hopes to create a space that is both intimate, powerful and engaging at the same time. It is not her goal to provide answers to the questions that the project is raising, but instead, the work should be a starting point for conversation and debate. The RCA MA Degree Show is not the end result of her work, it is more an encounter with the work at a certain point in time and place. The work will continue and develop after the Degree Show in the years to come.