Siiri Jüris “Touch”

Siiri Jüris has obtained BFA degree in painting, faculty of philosophy, at the University of Tartu in 2015 and MFA degree in painting, faculty of arts and humanities, at the University of Tartu in 2017. She has formerly acquired the profession of set designer and stylist at Tartu Art School. She has been participating in exhibitions since 2012. Current exposition is her second personal exhibition; her first personal exhibition „Dissolving“ took place in Võru Town Gallery in summer 2017.
Siiri Jüris’s artwork centers around the human body and its independence. Whereas in her earlier works Jüris has been studying the various states of an individual mainly through the possibilities of portrait painting then during the past few years the artist has preferred working with the monumental half-abstract figural compositions.

The artist comments on her present painting series as follows: “My recent painting series looks into the relationship between a patient (with limited mobility) and a caregiver. Faceless bodies have become anonymous. The abstract flesh-like skin and the interwoven figures emphasise anonymity. Human physicality depicted on the paintings has an almost tangible quality. Touch as a physical contact, reminding us of the presence and the inevitability of the material. It is through touch that a person feels their body, their being and receives direct and immediate contact with the surrounding world. However, sometimes our body might turn into a prison, which cannot even feel the most immediate humane contact.
The compassionate and caring touch of a caregiver could accelerate the healing process, whilst helping the patient restore connection with their own body and the one of others. The paintings are based on the ergonomic principles taught to caretakers, which have been purposefully taken out of their medical context. The paintings show the ambivalence of the physical. The portrayed touch is not only intimate but also almost intrusive, overstepping the autonomy of the person and might be carried out without consent. Therefore, something warm and intimate can simultaneously feel cold and calculated.
Paintings highlight the insubordination of the living and the organic. Fleshliness is laid out in front of us to painfully remind of its variability and brevity. Materiality is unavoidable – at some point we are all helpless and depend on others. One moment matter snaps and gives in. Despite all that has been stated above, we are still searching for physical closeness, each other’s touch.”