At exactly 26 Hertz, a cat’s purr matches the frequency scientists use in vibrational therapies to promote tissue regeneration. When the body is exposed to low frequency vibrations, bones reinforce themselves and muscles increase in density and strength. Purr Boxx helps you find your inner cat for healing yourself.
About the Artist
Once affectionately referred to as a Renaissance Woman as she was tilling the garden of a prominent photographer in her silver Doc Marten’s, Maeshelle West-Davies gleans her varied life experiences to expose a personal perspective through a multitude of mediums. Raised in the States and having lived in the UK for 7 years, she currently lives and works in Germany. Her work is a response not only to a physical journey, but an emotional one, as with all of us who walk along or beside our individual paths.
Like a bird she collects things that catch her eye. Glass, plastic, wire, metal and lost objects find their way into her pockets when she walks. These objects later join with wax, text, fabric and other materials to express something lived or observed. Often they end up in jars or boxes. “I love evoking interaction. With my boxes I am happy when people are curious enough to actually touch and open them. I do things to the outside, but what’s inside the box is just as much a part of it and so is moving people to do something they aren’t sure they are allowed to.”
Equally relevant are her videos, snaps, installations and performance works. The common thread is that things come together in relation to a well thought-out concept. These concepts are thought through to the point of chaos and then paired down to bare essence. This leaves a skeleton for the viewer to flesh out. Depending on the life experience of the onlooker, they may or may not end up with the original concept. Maeshelle is not concerned with that. She wants her work to move them; to give them something to take away. She understands that growing up, leaving home and finding your own way is the natural process for that which one has given birth to.
Artist Statement
I order chaos. Research is key. Once I feel I have gathered information through reading, interacting and lived experiences, I start to make sense of it. I chop and change, remove and add until I have something I feel is right. This editing process is equally as important as the preparatory phase. My work seems simple to the viewer because I have left no obstacles to the experience…..unless I have done it on purpose in order to disrupt.
Upcoming works/performances of the artist…
my face
4 hour durational performance
3-7PM Sat 12 Feb 2022
Retramp Gallery
Reuterstraße 62
12047 Berlin
In November of 2018 I started seeing Korean women smashing make up in order to “smash the patriarchy” on instagram. Beauty expectations were so high there that women couldn’t even be seen on television wearing glasses. I thought about the role of make up in our lives.
Can you wear makeup and still be a feminist? For four hours straight I put on and take off my make up.
not alone 2.0
by maeshelle west-davies
featuring:
Jonathan Kolski
L'Amicale Du Grand Hotel Abgrund
3 hour durational performance
7-10PM Fri 11 March 2022
installation open Fridays
until 1 April 2022
Helmut
Kohlgartenstr 51
04315 Leipzig
April 2020 found much of the world going into lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Two years later, we find ourselves in and out of captivity. Personal relationships have changed for better or worse. Political stances have become stronger. Are we standing in a pile of rubble or building something new with it? Our main means of communication with the outside world is controlled by algorithms. They reflect our state of mind. Click on one smiling rescued squirrel and get lots of heart- warming animal stories in your facebook feed. Get into a death scroll of conspiracy theory and you may find yourself on trial for storming the capitol of the United States.
Fairy Fountain
25/27 March 2022
Re-Core, Haus der Statistik
Alexanderplatz
Berlin, Germany
In the former GDR there was this side stream in the cultural programming to value cultural heritage more then ideological content- so they created fountains with figures of the German fairytales. German Folklorists Brothers Grimm have been translated into many languages. Were you told their stories as a kid? Would you tell fairytales from your childhood or create new ones? What stories are being told, are you telling? Is a fountain something that brings you youth, refreshes lost lives, brings you peace or simply a place for birds to play?
50 second videos created by 50 rounds of PILOTENKUECHE residents loop
Know more about the artist and her work:
#FILMFRIDAY: purrboxx