This month´ pictorial introduces a selection of visual notes by the Romanian artist Alex Bodea. Bodea works at the crossroads of visual art, poetry and journalism. Driven by a desire for eye witnessing and recording, she makes use of a language which is based on drawing and text, both of them stripped down to the essentials. Her interest is focussed on aspects of urbanity such as everyday street life, culture and politics.

Alex Bodea, Six Breakfasts, One Lunch, Artist book

She lays special emphasis on the way her findings are being delivered to the public. Beside the usual means of representation like exhibitions, books and online publishing she makes also use of direct storytelling and lecture performances. Thus, she reunites with most of the persons which are representated in her drawings and gives them her feedback in the form of a cinematic reading. These events often turn into an emotional exchange, with its share of magic.  

Alex Bodea, Cinematic  at the ASc -Gallery, London 2016

Alex Bodea has collaborated with and made visual reports about institutions such as Serralves Foundation (Porto), Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Martin-Gropius-Bau, HAU, Berliner Festspiele (Berlin), Deutsche Oper (Berlin), Deutsches Theater (Berlin), International Literature Festival (Berlin) and she has documented moments in the professional life of artists/filmmakers/actors/writers/directors such as Benjamin Verdonck, Salomé Lamas, Ana Moreira, Yevgenia Belorusets, France-Elena Damian, Karl Ove Knausgård (work-in-progress) and opera director Peter Sellars. Currently, she works on a short story in three parts, depicting a political protest, a visit to the Reichstag and passing the airport control in London.