Liisa Kanemägi “Between the Obscene and the Sacred”

Viscous matter exists on the threshold between liquid and solid. This slow-moving substance clings, seeps through categories, threatens our sense of purity, and stains the boundary between the self and the world. Viscosity is the cross-section of a process of becoming – a base, even obscene layer of being.*

The material states of the exhibition – substance and lace – invite reflection on what we perceive as crude or noble forms, and on the higher and lower manifestations of existence.

* Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness (1943)

Liisa Kanemägi is a fashion designer who graduated in 2022 from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a master’s degree in fashion design. Kanemägi is interested in the relationship between clothing and the body, as well as the transformation of material over time. Her practice combines the graceful aging of material with a fine sense for detail and bold aesthetics. She explores the boundaries between humans and their clothing, and how this reflects the human relationship with their materiality. Currently, Kanemägi is developing her own personal knitwear brand.