Ligaments & Ligatures

×

Expand

Karina Bergmans, “Lungs,” 2013

wire, foam, fabric, yarn, rope and silk wedding dress scraps, 70” x 80” x 15” (courtesy of the artist)

A decade ago, fabric artist Karina Bergmans found an interesting piece of shiny, maroon-coloured cloth that made her think of a human liver. So she used it to make a liver. Then she made a set of kidneys. She has been stitching up oversized, often diseased, body parts ever since.

Some of Bergmans’ 3-D fabric organs will be exhibited at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum in southeastern Saskatchewan from Jan. 24 to March 20. The organs she has shipped for her solo show, Ligaments & Ligatures, are part of a larger body of work that has circulated around the country in various iterations since 2013. An ulcerated stomach, for example, has travelled to the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. The Ottawa-based Bergmans, ever the seamstress, created a cloth backpack to carry the ailing organ.

×

Expand

Karina Bergmans, “Heartattack,” 2011

thrift-store velvet, felting and Poly-Fil, 72” x 48” x 24” (courtesy of the artist)

The star of the Estevan show is a giant set of lungs. Bergmans says the work is about the size of a Smart car. It’s made from wire, foam, yarn, rope and silk wedding dress scraps. A heart, slightly smaller than the lungs, combines velvet, felting and polyester fiberfill. You can tell the heart is having serious problems – the word “attack” leaks out of it like spilled blood. Other works sent to Estevan include a smaller version of the lungs and a blood clot the size of an adult’s body. It’s titled Bloodletting and is made from wire, wool, string, Styrofoam, tulle and other fabrics. It’s an object of beauty until you realize its deadly implications.

First impressions tend to be fleeting with Bergmans’ work. Initially, people are attracted to the bright colours and oversized dimensions. The organs, which Bergmans describes as “cute and fun,” are meant to be humorous. They look like they belong in a children’s health class or a whimsical hospital display. But after a few giggles, reality hits. People realize these body parts are in a state of decay, disease or death, says Bergmans. Smiles disappear as people ponder their own mortality.

×

Expand

Karina Bergmans, “Bloodletting,” 2008

wire, wool, string, Styrofoam, tulle and assorted textiles, 68” x 26” x 12” (courtesy of the artist)

Bergmans is working on a new project, partially funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. It follows up on an earlier body of work, Airborne Allergens, large inflatable sculptures that replicate ordinarily microscopic pollens, viruses and moulds. Bergmans is making what she calls “interior landscapes” for the inflatables that can be viewed through vinyl windows. These undulating sculptures, about the size of camping tents, are like aliens from a 1950s’ horror movie. But do they also foretell the dangers of air we may be breathing in the near future?

Bergmans shares the Estevan gallery with Janet Shaw-Russell, from Brandon, Man. Her exhibition, Sheltered, includes anatomical drawings on tissue sewing patterns. Some of those drawings can also be seen at Galerie Buhler in Winnipeg until Feb. 23 as part of Women’s Work / Travaux de femmes, which also includes pieces by Winnipeg artist Willow Rector and Newfoundland artist Barb Hunt.  

×

Expand

Karina Bergmans, “Lungs-Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,” 2011

wire, fabric, yarn rope and silk wedding dress scraps, 51” x 60” x 6” (courtesy of the artist)

The Estevan gallery’s director, Amber Andersen, says she selected two shows that focus on the body because the start of a new year is when many people make resolutions about health and the body. While both artists focus on the body’s internal structures, Bergmans’ work has more of an edge. 

“She is exploring the breakdown of, or weakening of, the body by diseases,” Andersen says. “Typically, these ailments can be – and sometimes are – life threatening and are cause for understandable alarm.  

“There is a push and pull with Karina’s works. The use of textiles, woven fabrics and wools – the essence of handmade – make her works approachable, warm and disarming, unlike the subjects she is exploring.” ■

Sheltered and Ligaments & Ligatures are on view at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum in Saskatchewan from Jan. 24 to March 20, 2020.

PS: Worried you missed something? See previous Galleries West stories here or sign up for our free biweekly newsletter.