The CREART Gallery in Bucharest presents the solo exhibition “The Time of Others” by visual artist, Mihaela Moldovan, curated by Ana Daniela Sultana.
“Starting from the techniques used by students in manual labor classes during communism, Mihaela Moldovan offers us in this solo show a visual concept with several binary pairs. The paper fabric in black and white contrast reveals from a feminist perspective the relationship between applied and “major” arts, between lived and imagined reality, between everyday and domestic rhythm, between utilitarian and creative time, or between personal and dedicated time for others. At the same time, this selection revisits identity perspectives from the local topos located at the intersection of personal introspection and social memory, respectively, between shared experience and breaking out of the mold through the act of creation. Whether she weaves narratives in textile thread (such as the installations resembling oversized milieus) or in paper (such as the works here), Mihaela Moldovan’s current artistic practice focuses on repetitive gestures that can be claimed anthropologically or ideologically, in the sense of a subtle-subversive feminism.”
Ana Daniela Sultana
“The three works are part of a series of five paper weaves that explore the fragility and sacrifice of women involved in domestic work, caught in a daily rhythm that leaves them no time for themselves. The fragile and ephemeral layers of paper become a metaphor for their identity, always at the service of others but almost invisible as individuality. The delicate but resistant weave of paper suggests both the constant effort and the unspoken desire to access another kind of work – one that would offer them personal fulfillment beyond the domestic routine.
Through this series, the memory of repetitive gestures and the silence imposed by responsibilities becomes visible, highlighting an inner conflict between duty and aspiration. The black and white contrast present in the works accentuates this tension, symbolizing the opposition between obligation and desire, visibility and anonymity, hope and exhaustion. Together, these two non-colors create an unstable balance, a dance between light and shadow, between what is imposed and what remains only an unspoken desire. In the end, the work does not offer a solution, but opens a space for reflection on the contrast between work and dream, between constraint and freedom.”
Mihaela Moldovan
Mihaela Moldovan (Vezentan) is one of the visual artists who form the Malmaison Workshops community and also a member of the ~28 Group, a collective dedicated to exploring the representations and experiences of women in art. A graduate of UNArte Bucharest, with a bachelor’s degree in Textile Arts and Textile Design and a master’s degree in Visual Arts, Mihaela Moldovan places her artistic practice in the area of experimental textiles, calling on old embroidery/lace techniques using instead new materials from the industrial area (strings, cables, hoses, etc.) as well as paper-cut techniques inspired by the manual workshops of her childhood. Her exhibition activity includes personal and group exhibitions at the Anca Poterașu Gallery, the National Museum of History of Romania, Scena 9, Art Safari, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, and the WHITECUIB Gallery in Cluj.
Ana Daniela Sultana is a curator and publicist, a graduate of the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. She publishes articles in the magazines ARTA, Orizonturi Culturale Italo-Romanâne and on agentiadecarte.ro. She collaborates with institutions such as CREART – the Center for Creation, Art and Tradition of the Municipality of Bucharest, the International Cultural Center in Krakow, the Romanian Cultural Institute Istanbul, the Romanian Cultural Institute Vienna, the Romanian Cultural Institute Venice, the Austrian Cultural Forum Bucharest, the Museum of the Municipality of Bucharest, the National Museum of Romanian Literature in Bucharest, the Museum of Art in Timișoara, Kunsthalle Feldbach, Aluniș Art Center and numerous contemporary art galleries.
Organized by the City Hall of the Capital, through CREART – the Center for Creation, Art and Tradition of the Municipality of Bucharest, the exhibition presents large-scale fabrics by the artist and can be visited between March 11 and April 11, 2025 at the CREART Gallery (Piața Alexandru Lahovari no. 7).
