Vraies images
(True images)
Series of drawings by erasure on inkjet photographic prints.
Variable dimensions (max. 84 × 119 cm), 2024-2025.
As part of her ongoing research on the true image or Vera Icona, a sacred manifestation on a surface, Mercedes Klausner wandered the streets of Rome, photographing monument façades in search of visual apparitions. To do so, she manipulates the images, converting them into monochromes and/or negatives, inspired by the unveiling process of the Shroud of Turin. The photographed traces on walls are thus transformed into evocative images through this technique. She then subtly intervenes on the prints with drawing, highlighting specific details within the revealed composition.
In a context of visual overproduction, the artist questions the value we attribute to an image that appears, beyond its sacred dimension.
This project also seeks to resonate with the emergence of generative art, increasingly present in today’s art world. Mercedes Klausner explores the human brain’s capacity to compose images from fragments, in a quest for meaning drawn from perception. The image thus becomes a mental territory, where memory and imagination converge to reveal the invisible.
Created within the framework of the PRIX WICAR 2024, a creative residency by the City of Lille in Rome.
