Jasna Vukos

Atopos

The work Atopos is an exploration of the concepts of identity and non-place and sensitivities that exist on their intersection. Exploiting its non-place nature, I use hotel as a concept (flowing, temporarily anonymous place) to set the scene that inspires us to consider identity as a construct, and to set it free from semblances and restrictions (national, social, family). This is in contrast with the dominant image of the hotel as a symbol of the existential alienation of a contemporary man. My identity has been shaped by the experience of living as an immigrant in different cultures and countries. I have come to understand the identity as a continuous flow, a journey, and an escape from any definition, rather than something assigned to me by birth. Through this journey, hotels have represented places of transition where concerns of identity are erased. They are non-places in which we are briefly levitating. These self-portraits were taken in hotel rooms I visited. While deconstructing and exploring the different meanings of the terms non-place and identity in relation to contemporary mobility, I observe the feelings of alienation, disorientation, anticipation, and loneliness that accompany the act of uprooting due to leaving one’s home, as well as the sense of freedom that a newly gained nomadic identity can provide.