St. Mary's Projects in Studio Art:

Katia Meisinger / SMP 2018

Red Room

The Red Room is a revisiting of a sanctuary where various elements expressively tell the story the emotional stresses and strains I lived with. This installation should be understood as a surreal dramatization of my inner feelings and not be interpreted as depiction of actual truth. Many of the objects in the room address my feelings of isolation and loneliness. There is the chair, that represents myself because it was a space I took up in the house and it became a comfort zone. The television that became my friend, and coping was found through the sexual and strange. The Red Room as a space also says something about my loner existence, the room is not conceived as a place to gather but rather is sized and furnished to express isolation. A theme found in objects throughout the room helped fill a void that is the absence of my father. This highlights the absence of family in the portrait, and the true emotions that came with it. Its red frame, along with shades of red in the room, embodies the facade of a happy family and domestic home. Even though the feelings of what this room explores are troubling ones, I see this as healing, a way to come to terms with my past. Yes, it was a time in my life that was painful, but it was also the first time that creating became my sanctuary. It was when a broken child found comfort through the surreal and abstract world through imagination.