ARTIST STATEMENT

The things I use for my collages and installations are „things“ which are not really needed. I do find and collect these "useless" materials and leftovers like textiles, old books, tickets and other papers, wire, furnitures and natural materials like wood, leaves, flowers etc. They all have their own story and their meanings, which I connect with each other in an art work. Together with earth, different sands, acrylics and tempera I create new compositions from these „useless“ things in order to give them a new right of existence. My works transport an energy, which refers to the origin of life and human being. I work very inituitive, so the content turns out during creating. I try to understand the nature of different materials and the atmosphere of my surroundings so as to transform them into new shapes and colours.

Identity and intercultural topics are the main subjects in my art works. A lot of my paintings and installations have their origin in Hungary, because I have been living in Budapest for two and a half years. My hungarian family background made me being interested in the culture of Hungary and its people. I started learning the language and discovering my own incultural background. My experiences did reflect in my collages and installations and in an interactive and intercultural childrens book about a hungarian pig and a german dwarf.

Back in Leipzig/Germany I went on creating illustrations which are based on different cultures. New paintings and installations evolved due to the „new-old“ life there and to becoming a mother.

After a time out I started developing a series of small collages and paintings which is called "Under the microscope". I worked with collected papers, acrylics and tempera on packaging paper. Glueing papers and painting different layers over each other creates interesting surfaces with concentrations and resolutions in the works. Besides I ripped off parts of the papers so different structures and patterns turned out, which remind of body cells, tissue and segments.

My new series "Stadt, Land, Fluss..." is made of several collages out of papers and old maps. With its fictitious landscapes it questions territorial rights of countries, borders, landscapes, city areas etc. The translated title in English means "City, country, river..." and refers to the game, in which the players need to find as fast as they can a city, river, country etc. with one letter, which has been chosen before by chance  and in silence by one of the players. The game is based on coincidence, the counting of one player, trust and the knowledge about geography which can be transfered to territorial history and questions.

BIOGRAPHY

Teresa Szepes was born in 1981 in Berlin/Germany. Her Father came from Hungary as a guest worker to the former GDR, her mother is German. After finishing school and taking a European Voluntary Service in Galway/Ireland (work with homeless), she started studiing Social Casework in Berlin. One year later she quitted and started studiing Art and Mediation in Leipzig University. In 2006 she began discovering her intercultural background and took Hungarian lessons at the University. In 2007 she has been a guest student at the Hungarian Art Academy in Budapest in the subject of „Painting“. The culture of Hungary and its people started to become part of her life, which has been the reason for another study visit of one year in Budapest. Next to being a student in the painting department she took a course in „Intermedia“. After graduating with the Master of Arts at the University of Leipzig in 2010, Teresa Szepes got the „MÖB“ scholarship from the „Balassi Institute Budapest“ and stayed another twelve month in Hungary. During that time she also worked as a curator for different projects like „Here & Now“ (an interactive and intercultural exhibition project for children and adults) and „Szobart“ (a German Hungarian exhibition project). In 2012 she traveled to Porto/Portugal with the Leonardo da Vinci scholarship. During her stay Teresa Szepes worked for an cultural association creating a book about the alternative spots in Porto illustrated by her drawings. After the birth of her daughter Amaya in 2013, Teresa Szepes had one year of parental leave in which she has been working on her illustrations for a children book. Since 2014 she has been working next to her artistic activity as a freelancer for different educational institutions as a teacher or giving creative workshops for adults. Besides she been started the exhibition project „DIN A [<]“ in Leipzig with artists from different countries.