Gema Sainz

Image from work title Immaterial Wavering. Grey fabric with photopolymer print and embroidery stitches.

Gema is a London based visual artist working across multiple disciplines including printmaking, collage and textiles. In her work, Gema explores the contradictions of human temporality and the inconclusiveness of memory. Her work has been exhibited in several group shows across London, including TwoFold, Southwark Park Galleries (2023), The Damage is Done, Pump House Gallery (2022) and Lingua Franker, Hoxton 253 (2021).

Gema was awarded a Distinction in her Critical and Historical Studies dissertation titled: ‘A Journey of Possibilities: Hidden Giants’. This body of work was an exploration of the indeterminate space and time of memory, carried out by engaging in experimental writing under self imposed constraints.

MA Print, Royal College of Art, London, 2021-2023

Graduate Diploma (Fine Art), Royal College of Art, London 2020

Image of a collection of 31 objects found on the same location.

My work is rooted in the subjects of memory and time. I am interested in exploring the imperceptible and overlapping layers that make us. Seizing an indeterminate space and time, my work is underpinned by a desire to reject the societal and administrative impositions on the individual identity.

The recollections of people, items and events that don’t exist anymore are the inhabitants of that mysterious land that we called memory. Photographs and objects are holders of time, and time is a gentle relentless tide that rises into eternity. By using found objects, unassuming materials and manual processes for making, I am trying to reclaim the flickery pace of memory.

There is latent questioning around the values of the high-performance culture in my choice of methods and materials. Measurable success, growth and achievement are championed overlooking the singularity of the unpretentious stillness. My use of embroidery and fabric makes reference to women's relationship with hand stitching and textiles across the generations.

For the creation of my pieces I use printmaking, paper, collage, embroidery and textiles. I am fascinated by transformation, by reshaping and by mixing images and objects. For my work I often use what has been left from something that was. I draw upon the parallels between the processes of making and the paradoxes of human temporality.