Interstice: Rhaz Oriente

Rhaz Oriente’s austere treatment of the stained glass achieves a unified form in Interstice—an arrangement of 10x10 inch panels within a grid. Challenging the forms and iterations that comprise the idea of ‘window,’ this structure espouses the elements of light, texture, and colour as a portal to her own interpretation of a view: an immersion to both order and variance; to both transparency and subjectivity.

The different colours appear as fragments, raising the agenda of the interstice as the space ‘in-between’ individual worlds. One can say that they are worlds within worlds, views within a single viewpoint. It is an exploration against the organic and conventional form of a window, which presupposes a unified vista to an external reality. Here, our senses are directed to the space within: the room it occupies. As if a reflection that demands an inward appraisal of the world. A meditative, and an artificial fulfilment of an escape.

The exhibition highlights the gaps between the panels—as markers of the liminal space between worlds. This fragmentation exists as a statement against the notion of viewing actuality, for there can never be a singular one. Oriente states: “It symbolises the moments we often overlook in life, the spaces within any given view is as important as the glass itself to which we look through.”

Drawing our attention to moments of transition, presence, and absence, the soft interplay of light that emanates behind the stained glass presents an array of colours that emerge as fragmented reflections, underscoring the concept of the interstice as the space between distinct worlds. It transforms the room, as light and shadow bounces off from its walls and floors, creating an immersive experience.

Oriente is drawn to concepts that transform spaces, as someone who works in a gallery herself. Working in exhibition spaces, where she often finds herself surrounded by walls, has profoundly influenced her artistic approach. The void and the moments that counter it appear as common themes in her works, usually taking the form of subtle appearances—just enough to assert its presence, the same way light and reflections do.

Rhaz Oriente’s explorations in art stand above the rest as an unusual path towards the discreet and muted imagery. Her series of objects that utilise light and glass become forms of an anti-spectacle, always inviting an inward presence instead. Her works, rather than demanding us to look, seem to suggest that we merely pause and consider our own senses—to gauge our own presence within any given space. In Interstice, as with her other previous attempts, Rhaz Oriente provides delicate portals—whether in the form of luminous or reflective substances, to which we can both see through and within.

/CLJ