SNAKE CHARMING, Lehmann + Silva, Porto, 2022

Under the title SNAKE CHARMING Ani Schulze presents new drawings, a site-specific wall mural, sculptures, and a video work in her first exhibition at the gallery.

Groups of people during leisure time: In her watercolors and textile works, Schulze depicts figures engaged in various activities: picnicking, hunting, bathing – tussling? The scenes seem familiar yet unsettling.

With the reversal of roles, the all-queer-female* casts, zoom-ins, and contemporary digital extensions (e.g. the mobile phone at picnic) the artist relocates the sceneries into today and undermines a binary system. The dissolution of dichotomy also becomes visible in the alternating relationships of the figures: it is difficult to tell whether the gestures are affectionate or combative. Their props change from instruments to weapons and vice versa. The image of the snake charmer fits all too well: The snake considers the person and flute (pungi) a threat and responds to it as if it were a predator – a state between hypnosis and attack. Schulze’s polymer sculptures YES I – III gather in the space, devotional sitting and waiting, rather affirmative.

Excerpt of the exhibition text by Miriam Bettin