Dagmar Sissolak

Wonderland

The current Alice in the Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass exhibition is comprised of works, which were born from Sissolak’s intense fascination with Lewis Carroll’ s visionary thoughts on future astronomical endeavours, one hundred years before the first man walked on the moon. Through the looking glass has become a symbol of man´s desire to travel beyond his universe, while Alice’s journey may be interpreted as a metaphor for the artist’s personal travels. Sissolak has travelled and moved around throughout her adult life. She has lived and worked in Germany, Nicaragua, UK, Switzerland, Austria, Solomon Islands and Zambia before moving to South Africa in 2005. Her journeys and contact with different cultures and mentalities have had an important impact on her Art.

Dagmar therefore sympathises with Alice in Through the Looking-Glass, as the character encounters mostly inhospitable places & inhabitants on her journey. Time becomes relative, and even turns upside down. Mirror themes which Carroll incorporated, such as opposites and time running backwards, are symbolised by symmetrical image formation , reflection and glass effects. Acrylics are applied like water-colours, used sparsely and carefully, yielding delicate pastel-like effects, which are contrasted by strong accents of colours, Tenniel´s concise, caricature-like characters as well as an uneasy canvas surface resembling an aged mirror surface with spots and defects.

Through her original approach Sissolak succeeds in bringing a fresh, modern appeal to a theme that will always stay contemporary.

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