Altars | mariakasmira

In this digital age I am drawn to the imperfect: the wear on a photograph, handwriting of repressed emotion, hair half-dyed, what is left behind. In these works I try to honor fragility and decay and weakness. Our lives are made in the faltering and the striving. There are few stains in our animated world, small proofs of life or dirt or breath.

We all lose something in this artificiality, maybe not initially, when it is still comforting to be in such control but at some point I think we all crave something unavoidably visceral. Something that is able to be held because it exists in the same realm we do.

These works are an interface between the natural and the man-made. Through them I want to give new life to overlooked or discarded things, many of which start with something found in the woods or on the beach and expand outward to explore a memory or a dream. I use the form of the altar to elevate the everyday to the sacred and remind myself and others of the precious and the latent in all things.

Negative, birch bark, cacti painted gold, bone, virgin card from church	Deer bones and marbled paper, carved hand painted white, crab shell, deer skull, old photos and magazine	paint, bark, sharks teeth and wampum shell
painted paper, thorns and string, wampum and rust, wasp nest ( small )	mouse bones ( killed by cat ) , wampum, crab shell, found paper and made paper, string and beads	Thorns, found gargoyle head, tracing paper, beads, paper
Painted thorns, dryer lint, Valentine’s Day card, Greek sculpture, pastel paper, inside of a cardboard box	found frame, red crystal, pottery, painted maps and sheer fabric	American flag, painted woman, wood and paper
wasp nest, poppy pods, handmade paper, dog and human hair, yellow butterfly wing, bones of a fan	died cloth, dryer lint, old paper, gold leaf hydrangea petal, nails, birds nest	photographs, beach wood, negatives, found bull, me on a swing set with long hair
Mono print, driftwood, magazine	fossil, turquoise, pastel and collage	matches, found baby, found man, fishhook, beech bark, paint and brown paper bag, vertebrae
	crane, a painted snake, roman postcard	walnut shell, chard seeds, map of canada and russia, deer bones, twine ribbon and thorns
Painted woman, deer bones and marbles pepper, cigar box, inside of cardboard, National Geographic	Parts of fan, bowl, hands and paper	monoprint, palm tree bark, a key and leather, the last of the thorns

Negative, birch bark, cacti painted gold, bone, virgin card from church

Deer bones and marbled paper, carved hand painted white, crab shell, deer skull, old photos and magazine

paint, bark, sharks teeth and wampum shell

painted paper, thorns and string, wampum and rust, wasp nest ( small )

mouse bones ( killed by cat ) , wampum, crab shell, found paper and made paper, string and beads

Thorns, found gargoyle head, tracing paper, beads, paper

Painted thorns, dryer lint, Valentine’s Day card, Greek sculpture, pastel paper, inside of a cardboard box

found frame, red crystal, pottery, painted maps and sheer fabric

American flag, painted woman, wood and paper

wasp nest, poppy pods, handmade paper, dog and human hair, yellow butterfly wing, bones of a fan

died cloth, dryer lint, old paper, gold leaf hydrangea petal, nails, birds nest

photographs, beach wood, negatives, found bull, me on a swing set with long hair

Mono print, driftwood, magazine

fossil, turquoise, pastel and collage

matches, found baby, found man, fishhook, beech bark, paint and brown paper bag, vertebrae

crane, a painted snake, roman postcard

walnut shell, chard seeds, map of canada and russia, deer bones, twine ribbon and thorns

Painted woman, deer bones and marbles pepper, cigar box, inside of cardboard, National Geographic

Parts of fan, bowl, hands and paper

monoprint, palm tree bark, a key and leather, the last of the thorns