Structure No. 8, pencil on paper, 50 x 36 cm, 2017
Structure No. 5, pencil on paper, 50 x 30cm, 2016
Structure No. 11, pencil on paper, 60 x 45cm, 2018
Structure No. 4, pencil on paper, 72x53cm, 2016
Structure No. 12, pencil on paper, 47 x 35 cm, 2019
Structure no. 13, pencil on paper, 47 x 35 cm. 2019
Structure no. 24, pencil on paper, 65x46cm, 2020
Structure no. 25, pencil on paper, 60x45cm, 2021
Structure no. 14, pencil on paper, 28 x 20 cm, 2020
Structure no. 23, pencil on paper, 28 x 20 cm, 2020
Structure no. 18, pencil on paper, 28 x 20 cm, 2020
Structure no. 22, pencil on paper, 28 x 20 cm, 2020
This series of colour pencil drawings looks at the links between memory, imagination and perception. The abstracted architectural structures incorporate fragments of places from personal memory. Fragments of these different architectural spaces are joined together in playful and unexpected ways to form irrational spaces. Rafalski is drawn to interior everyday spaces, such as previous homes, school rooms, attics, that she recalls from personal experience. Her interests lie in how our memory, over time and long absences, distorts these everyday spaces and what we remember is sometimes quite different from how a space appeared in the past.
She draws from memory and from imagination and then use these fragments to playfully build new constructions and structures that are baffling and confusing. Fragments of buildings from different places and different times can coexist. These structures are seemingly architecturally sound in the 2 dimensional world, yet on closer inspection reveal elements that would be architecturally impossible.
These structures are stage-like and give the impression of being foldable. And they also have a labyrinthine quality, creating a path for the eye to wander through, inviting the viewer on a journey. The symbol of the labyrinth offers a duality: it can be both the map and the territory, the journey and the itinerary. Colour in these drawings is taken from the physical surroundings Rafalski finds herself whilst making the drawings.