Stabby Eyes

ameliaopalinska
Apr 8, 2024
2 min read

Making art in Merida, Yucatan

HOW IT CAME TO BE

One morning I woke up with feelings of extreme frustration and thought to myself, let's take this abundant energy and use it! Let its physical form manifest so that I can stab it with a needle.

I've been wanting to work with reused cardboard from pizza boxes, (sourced from the best pizza in town once a week, a ritual that is dear to my heart), shiny objects and fringe. My soul yearning for things to hang off the canvas, rebelling against its rigid formality. For this past year, these three ideas have been poking at me, nagging, incessantly.

It all started on a Sunday with one pizza box, two pairs of scissors and an uncomfortable amount of random knickknacks we've been finding on our evening walks. The Stabby Eye was born. I kept making myself laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, hanging needles from these decorated cardboard 'eyes', imagining scenarios, the glue fumes my allies.

WHAT IT'S TURNING INTO

Since then I've purchased more shiny objects and varieties of glue. Some Stabby Eyes hang in a box, others have been attached to a canvas. Sequins abound in different colors, shapes and sizes.

And as I look at this project now, frustration long gone, I realize it has surpassed my early expectations and as the shine from the sequins catches my eye, dots connect and it's clear to me what this project is really about.

A few weeks ago we embarked on an adventure. I wasn't really sure what to expect but tried to stay open. The brochure advertised crocodiles, fireflies and mayan legends. I imagined bugs. To my most welcome surprise, the next 20 hours turnout to be beyond anything I could have imagined. Though we had traveled only two hours, it felt like a different time all together. And as I place yet another sequin on my stabby eye, I know it is no longer a manifestation of my angst, but rather the overwhelming magic of a moment spent among the fireflies in a mangrove swamp, air thick with mayan legend.

WHERE CAN YOU SEE THE STABBY EYE

I am so happy to announce that the lovely people at El Zapote Gallery in Merida, Yucatan, have, once again been fooled into believing in the nonsense I spew and have agreed to hang this collection for the spring Noche Blanca this 25th of May, 2024.

Come visit if you're in town.