GABRIELLA PRESNAL
Gabriella Presnal (b.2001, they/them) is a Finnish-American artist based in Helsinki, Finland. Born
in Germany and having grown up living in countries like Sweden, Canada, and multiple states in
the U.S., they have been living in Finland for the past 7 years and have recently lived the last year
in Copenhagen, Denmark for studies. They are a multidisciplinary artist primarily working with
sculpture, painting, moving image (& 360 video), hand-drawn animation, as well as applied fine
arts.
For a more detailed biography and to explore his works, please see the links below.
gabriellapresnal.com
instagram.com/gabriellapresnal
Memory Wash / 2025
The performer cares for a wire garment created from broken, upcycled cables. The weaving acts as an attempt of relearning one's culture. The broken internet cabling represents re-learning through digital means, such as watching YouTube videos on the basics of weaving compared to having had it passed down by generations. It also reflects an element of feeling artificiality of one's cultural identity.
The work represents care during mundane moments in the home and re-connecting to cultural heritage. The act of washing creates a moment of drifting where one's mind begins to wander and reflect on past memories while caring for the garment. Drifting allows one to create comfort around feeling artificial.
Works exploring representations of spatiality through nomad art>
<reimagining weaving, instead of weaving being a controlled, or striated, form of nomad art, it is reclaimed, retranslated into nests, eggs, webs, capable of holding, caring, and nuturing>
<i imagine spider bird creatures hatching, transversing through the cracks of immaterial and material spaces>
Net Casting / 2024 / Wire Sculpture, wood
Nest / 2024 / Wire Sculpture, wood
Hatch / 2024 / Wire Sculpture, paper based and egg shell biomaterial
Hold / 2024 / 35x35x220cm / Broken electric cabling from Aalto University: the AV Takeout, Mechatronics, Behavioral Lab, the Health Technology building, and Fab Lab.
The process takes broken cabling and uses simple self-taught basket weaving techniques to transform a two-dimensional landscape into something three-dimensional. Weaving was used as a starting point from a cultural aspect as I am half Finnish but did not grow up here or grow up being close with grandparents (who could pass on these techniques for example). Deleuze and Guattari refer to weaving as the most striated - or controlled/measured - form of “nomad art” as there is no space to aerate within the confines of a tightly woven square. Nomad art applies the characteristics of land and space they discuss to art. The series aims to reclaim what is described as a striated space and transform it into something smooth or nomadic where it can be permeated. The materials address a feeling of artificiality or alienation from one's culture as one attempts to self-learn one's culture through digital means.
