Karine PORTAL
L’île de Reil
To 28 May
Rencontres de la jeune photographie internationale 2022
Little is known about Reil Island. Discovered by German physician Johann Christian Reil in 1796, this region, located at the bottom of the lateral sulcus, is also known as the Insular Cortex. It’s an isolated area, an island-like enclave in the middle of the brain. According to scientific research, it is the seat of certain limbic functions, such as physical integrity. It is also presumed to be the home of consciousness.
Consciousness remains one of the most difficult concepts to define. Perceptual, intuitive, emotional, it is the internalized relationship with the world and with oneself. A kind of surf, a subjective rumour, some speak of a “background within us that sees”.
The idea of consciousness, that each of us might have an island deep within ourselves, and that this island would be the epicentre of our relationship with the world, is the starting point for this work.
Practical information
Biography
Working in photography, video and drawing, Karine Portal’s work revolves around notions of temporality, alteration and identity. They focus on those interstitial moments where flux and vacuity oscillate. Gaps, strata and the “between” between times and spaces are essential elements in the forms she creates. The idea of cycle, of construction and re-construction processes, of the rewriting of time and the living, are for her important data, enabling her to produce forms and invent correspondences between the different mediums that occupy her.
A graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Karine Portal pursues her research, participating regularly in exhibitions in France and Europe, editions, collective experiences, festivals and residencies.
She took part in the RJPI Artist Residencies in 2005.