In this beautiful mixed-media collages project, Swedish based artist Anastasia Savinova try to identify the differences and similarities between places of habitation. Travelling around cities and countries, she take pictures of buildings, sneakily looking through windows, going to local shops, flea markets and bars to watch everyday life of each cities – all this helps her to build the feeling of the Place. This feeling becomes a foundation of her large-scale collages.
The Integral Image emerges from visual information and a dozen of associations. While architecture and landscape are visual components of the integral image of the Place, at the same time, this image is inseparably linked with a mentality and a way of life. It is saturated with “an incorporeal something”. Ancient romans called it “genius loci” – the protective spirit of a place. In contemporary usage, “genius loci” refers to a location’s distinctive atmosphere. A Big house on each collage is composed of many buildings, which are typical for a particular country or city, in their connection with the land and the spirit of the Place.
