Manchester-based creator Acid Maia sets the scene for the extensive and ‘genre-bending’ body of work in the cataclysmic places within our world where our concrete societies and the wild collide; the rural space that walks the line of two sublime forces that do battle every day. The contrast is present within the overgrown ivy on the side of your garage, to the unkempt summer grass that stretches its limbs onto the pavement and the stream that floods with heavy winter rain at the back of your house. Weaving between documentary landscape and portrait photography, Acid Maia invites viewers into these twilight zones to explore ideas about life, death, nature, and the urban.
Looking at these images ignites similar feelings to when we drive past are a horrible car crash; you want to look away, be respectful, not stare at the possibility of pain and death of another human – but we are simultaneously drawn in. The work is not comfortable viewing, and to fully appreciate the images we must let go of any bias opinions of things that may not be typically viewed as beautiful. When we can consume this work from a neutral standpoint we are exposed to an in-depth and intricate study of the land and our place within it.
Intertwined with Acid Maia’s enigmatic poetry and writing excerpts these borderlines become a new world full of possibilities and questions. The weird and the wonderful merge until we can no longer tell them apart, which is exactly the point that Acid Maia is trying to make. What right do we have to brand something as beautiful or grotesque, lovely or unnerving? It exists anyway with or without our opinion – you cannot get more natural than the cycle of life and death; it feeds our world and allows for growth and prosperity. It is all the world’s art, the earth its artist. By creating this body of work Acid Maia provides a platform and asks us questions so that we can think about this in a more critical way.
In celebration of the zine launch under the same name, come along to Studio Bee on the 14th of March 2020 from 7-11 PM for an exhibition of the full body of work, designed to inspire and to make art inclusive. The night is free admission, a chance to discuss art openly over music and drinks. In Acid Maia’s words: “allow yourself to fall blindly down the rabbit hole” and explore these spaces and ideas through a new perspective. Become nomadic edge dwellers, uninhibited by any preconceptions for a brief period.
You can see more of Acid Maia’s work on her Instagram @acidmaia and can find more information about her exhibition on the events Facebook page.
