Charlotte Alfort focuses on the portrait as a motif when she uses jewellery to give space to the small nuances of everyday life. Here she explores what is played out in facial expressions, and how seeing reflects what is said and what is unspoken. Sometimes small additions are made to the portraits in the form of small pieces of jewellery with images of objects and animals, such as a horse or a water glass. Together they become part of larger stories.
Continuous work over many years can be like a kind of love, a place to exist. Curiosity and the desire to constantly challenge her work lead Alfort to explore new techniques and then immerse herself in them until she has fully mastered them. Then it's time for her to move on and learn a new technique. In this way, there is a dialogue that is never silent between artist and material.
The techniques she undertakes require various types of artisanal acrobatics. When she works with chasing, for example, the image is processed like a negative from a photograph and built up from the inside, from the back of the metal. In wood, fibers are cut away; through embroidery, stitches are sewn tightly together. Small pieces of coloured pencils are added like mosaics and each tiny grain of enamel is carefully placed in the right place as the portrait slowly develops.
The beginning of the artistic process is often a word, a phrase or an event that has lingered. Even things that are unspoken and only perceived as a mood in the room can become central in her work. Titles such as A Little Fine, Post Everything That Doesn't Fit at Home and If You Stand Still You Won't Be Seen give us possible pathways into the world of Alford.
At Liljevalchs+ we meet a large series of small works under the collective title chosen for the exhibition She has shoes that don't make a sound - everyday life. They are pieces of jewellery that fit in one hand, under a jacket and close to the heart.
Collection title: She has shoes that don't make a sound - everyday life consisting of 68 parts
Materials: wood, silver, enamel, paint, beads, thread, textile watercolour and cut-up coloured pencils
Techniques: silversmithing techniques, chasing, wood relief techniques, embroidery, mosaic, drawings
List of titles:
She's got shoes that don't make a sound - everyday life
Fun with pleasure
Bonne Louise
Feather in her cap
The treasure inside the cardigan
A bit nice
Melted into the wallpaper
Hands and feet poppy red
Rest from yourself
Doubt in her mourning collar
Fine-tuning a stinging heart
The accuracy of conscience
What not to say
The birds are crying a bit quieter today
She was never lucky
She who was not there
A weekday is never an ordinary day
Small differences are big
Worn hearts
Post everything that doesn't fit at home
Stop the thought from bothering her
They didn't smile because it was a different time
If you stand perfectly still you can't be seen
Artichoke hearts
The sacrificial cardigan
The sacrificial cardigan runs with the circus
Double-knit
Eat your peas and weep
The American visit that died late
Ingens dog
The orange tree
Apple to covet, pineapple
The peculiar everyday
A glass of water with a heartbeat
Death has rosy cheeks
The occasion and the moment that passed by
She who never found the beat
Arms there stretched them, lips they whisper, whisper and reach them sweet and healthy. V.R
How do you bury a dead hare in all the asphalt?
A ripe plum fell from its friend