Photo reportage from the exhibition ‘The Sea is You’ by Diāna Tamane at the Tallinn City Gallery

At the exhibition, Diāna Tamane displays a series of watercolours completed over the past two years. These works are a step towards a body-based practice, where art grows out from life and vice versa – gently and naturally. Synchronised breathing and painting results in intuitive and flowing works that do not drain energy, but rather give it.

Primarily known for her photographic works so far, Tamane has drawn material from life itself before too, relying on family relationships and home archive material to create her works. This exhibition could be seen as a natural continuation or even deepening of the same interest: attention has shifted from the relationships surrounding the artist to her relationship with herself.

“It seems to me that one of the central dilemmas in art is the conflict between material and creative values. In order to be competitive or successful, an artist often needs to adopt working principles that are closer to production than creation. How to deal with the realisation that your calling, the driving force of life, has become so exhausting and stressful that a threatening flame of burnout is looming on the horizon? It seems that Diāna Tamane has recognised this dangerous moment and decided that she has had enough, taken time off and started making art again from scratch: one breath and one brush stroke at a time,” Siim Preiman, curator of the exhibition reflects on the exhibition.