Fia Cielen – Carnival of Souls

Having developed a multifaceted practice that includes drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, performance and multimedia works, Fia Cielen’s oeuvre revolves around the notion of metamorphosis. Exploring the interplay between the natural and the artificial, she draws inspiration from European folklore, particularly the tradition of masquerades, and shows a profound fascination with the ambiguous and the uncanny.

Cielen’s exhibition Carnival of Souls, is inspired by the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, traditionally celebrated annually on the night of October 31st. Samhain (pronounced “SOW-in” or “SAH-win”) marked the end of summer and the coming of winter, the dying of the light and the arrival of darkness. It was perceived as a liminal festival, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld was believed to be blurred, making contact with the supernatural and the souls of the dead more likely. Guising, a tradition of dressing up and travelling door to door in ‘disguise’ while reciting verses in exchange for offerings, played an important role in the celebration. Masks and costumes, often made from straw, may have served to personify eerie spirits, or to conceal oneself from them. Similarly, lanterns imitating grotesque faces made from carved turnips, accompanied the guisers in the darkness, warding off evil. Such festivities served as a reminder of the ambiguous position of life and the interconnections between humanity, nature and the unknown. The pagan customs of Samhain were eventually appropriated by the Christian celebration of All Saints’ Day, which has today become the highly-commercialised festival of Halloween.

Reflecting on the element of liminality hidden beneath the tenets of the dominant culture, the exhibition presents a new series of sculptural masks. It invites viewers to join this ‘carnival of souls’, engage in a play of shadow and light, and become enchanted by the places ‘in-between’.

About Fia Cielen

Fia Cielen obtained her master’s degree in Fine Arts in 2008 from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where she lives and works. She connects various media driven by alchemy and the motif of the crystal, the geometric form that multiplies in all directions. She creates drawings of mask-like creatures, large digital prints, and allows her sculptures and installations to undergo transformations through the addition of spiders, salts, or chemicals. Her artistic cosmos explores the shadow side of existence, in the twilight zone between reality and imagination, and within a sinister atmosphere.