Fragile Juncture, 2020
drawing on canvas
250 cm x 230 cm
“Fragile Juncture” is a work that encompasses pressing issues concerning the European Union, Brexit, the Corona Crisis as well as the growing right-wing/anti-EU movements and Nationalism within the EU—all of which are creating troubling situations and a fragile junctures in the socio-historic condition of the European Union. The EU thus faces its greatest challenges and needs to find solutions before this union of nation-states collapses entirely. “I was frightened and very worried when I found pictures of protests against EU membership, EU politics, refugees and foreigners in general during my research on Google, which I found in all 27 EU member states,” says the artist.
Following, Oravecz selected pictures of these anti-EU demonstrations, sorted them by country and drew them on a large canvas (250 cm x 230 cm) with graphite pencil, which together made a large map of Europe. “I then cut the canvas in such a way that the neighboring countries are only held together by a loose, thin sewing thread. With this work, I want to point out that this is a very fragile historical moment in which we all have to fight against the deliberate nationalistic and right-wing extremist waves of right-wing politicians in order to preserve the values of the European Community together."
