“I have told myself a hundred times that I should be happy if I were as brainless as my neighbor, and yet I do not desire such happiness” — Voltaire
As the veil of innocence is ripped off throughout our lives, themes of sadness, misery, loneliness and despair become more familiar and banal — more real. Somehow, the picturesque images of happiness merely become mental exercises of our aspirations and motivations to achieve these fleeting moments. In Victoria Fabella’s Picture-perfect Fragile State, we are bombarded with such depictions of retro-fashioned collages of imagery that seemingly have been ripped off of post-war western lifestyle magazines. A time when the idea of glamour, carefree culture and evocation of freedom were being used to erase the trauma of the past.
Fabella often deals with themes of longing or memories of what could have been, an interrogation of the “ideal” in different phases of life. In this exhibition she highlights the sense of pleasure derived from vacation, where people seemed stress-free and resigned from the pressures of the real world.
In it, we see the depiction of vicarious people within them and their dramatic relationship with the familiar yet surreal landscapes surrounding them. Her playful yet incisive assemblage of each scene is asking us to consider this relationship and interrogate beyond what is presented as personal utopic scenes. She directs our attention towards her collage of vintage photos of foreign people on vacation, on picnics, on beaches or on pools — tangible manifestation of leisure.
In “Sunbathers,” we see these women, frolicking in mid-summer day in their bathing suits, alongside a smiling woman as if welcoming the day and a child as she readies to dive into a relaxing swim. Her “Warmth For a While” showcases a group of people as they lay on the warm ground of greens and enjoy each other’s company with their wine and stories, conjuring an essence of relaxation. A hard to miss image of a woman with a wide smile and her company, who comfortably sits on a chair are seen in “When The Morning Comes” as they are surrounded with a scenic view of colorful landscapes. Her demeanor seems to invite us to join them at the moment. Every scene is a vision of freedom and the idyllic. They are unbashful promotions of how it looks like to be “happy” as these retro images were used during their times, a dictation in the eyes of the viewer that “this is the life.”
At the forefront of her works is the ambiguity between a critique and glorification of such desires, of such “filtered” and unattainable state. Picture-perfect Fragile State is not just a series of characterizations of a tongue-in cheek easygoing kind of life. It tethers us back to our innocent worldview that everything will be alright despite the reality that surrounds us. It wants us to question where or how certain images have become our hallmark of “happiness” and where this certain fetishism of such desires comes from. In both past and modern times, our ideas of joy and worthwhile lives are often dictated by external entities, outside of our own personal views. Victoria Fabella’s works want us to re-examine this on-going narration that happiness is something we have to seek outside our own selves. It reminds us that the idea of “happiness” has become more absurd, more fictitious and more distant the longer we deal with the harshness of the real world, and that maybe the only validation we need is the one that truly matters — our own.
Lec Cruz
