Beneath the black sand of time, I resist - Exhibition at LCG Artlab, Berlin

Does the mirror mourn the ghosts it holds, or does it remain indifferent to the countless faces that have flickered across its surface? Both fragile and resilient, suspended between presence and disappearance, the mirror is a beholder, but not a vessel for memory. It does not record or recollect. Instead, it bears witness to the passage of things, and the passage of time.

There’s a subtle heaviness to a mirror’s reflection, a sense that it carries more than light, as if the glass itself has absorbed every glance, every fleeting moment of recognition. When we stand before it, we confront not just our own image, but the traces of those who once looked into it, perhaps our past self, and left something behind: a hesitation, a fleeting smile, a glimpse of something unsaid. We ask it to confirm our presence, and, for an instant, it holds us, captures something of our being. Then, just as suddenly, it releases us.

Using mirrors as her primary medium, Auriane Kolodziej creates a delicate interplay of self-portraiture and reflection, exploring themes of mortality, memory, and the fleeting nature of existence. These mirrors become both canvas and void, reflecting not just her own image but the anxious question of what remains when our bodies are no longer present, and the fear of being forgotten.

Captured in resin blocks that she coats with black paint —symbolizing melancholy— these fragmented images feel as if they are caught in a state of perpetual decay, an effect heightened by the radiographic quality of her technique. Each piece thus becomes a melancholic prism at once a photograph, a painting, a sculpture, and a reflection of one’s own face.

Alongside her sculptural works, Auriane Kolodziej revisits older self-portraits through drawing, transforming them into new works that bridge past and present selves. Not merely depictions of the artist, they are sites of self-autopsy, dissected outlines in graphite and charcoal that seem to dig into the very marrow of her being. This autopsy effect renders each line a metaphorical excavation—an attempt to understand herself from the inside out.

Presented at LCG ARTLAB, Auriane Kolodziej’s work, while deeply personal, invites the viewer into a shared space of introspection. Her handwritten poems in French and English add a final layer of intimacy, questioning not only her own existence but also ours. The effect is one of perpetual dialogue, where the viewer’s reflection within her mirrors becomes part of a broader meditation on identity, absence, and the melancholic beauty of the ephemeral, or in other words, of life itself.

Louise des Places

Host or Publisher LCG ARTLAB