Deborah Schamoni

As a self-described transatlantic expat, a spirit of national nomadism and outsider cultural inquisitiveness inform her practice.

Her works are primarily voiced in the first person, often blurring the distinction between the artist and object of study. The recurring imagery - pearls, butterflies, hearts, coffee art, household ornamentation and motivational slogans – a montage of mundane prosaicness– evoke the iconography of a coming-of-age femininity and the language of relationship advice columns, with their undertones of possession, seduction, anxiety and insecurity. Ubiquitous, everyday objects are observed as unearthed treasures concealing exotic truths, viewed from a furtive, almost voyeuristic vantage point.

In a multidisciplinary manner, she charts a soft-toned exploration of the relationships between consumerism and identity, class imitation and social deception, altruism and orientalism, with a particular focus on the idea of ‘cute’ and ‘pretty’.

This idea of ‘prettiness’ is central to Ulman’s practice and here the installation at Evelyn Yard - an immersive experience - uses the aesthetic languages of the middle, its ‘sublime ordinariness’, as a mechanism to explore the intersection of class and aesthetics at its most salient point: taste.

Text: Evelyn Yard, London
Photos: Evelyn Yard, London
Courtesy of the artist and Evelyn Yard, London