Raphaele Shirley exposes archetypal representations of space, time and emotion as they exist in our conscious and unconscious mind. Using a rule-based “Psychedelic Documentation,” she systematically studies, copies, interprets and transforms a fixed set of collected shapes (Styrofoam packaging) using diverse art practices such as sculpture, photography, video documentation and painting.

In the “Sunken City” series, she combines her practices into a multi-media, abstract landscape of uncertain scale and time frame. With this new series Shirley is exploring space, place and structure, loosely implying utopian environments of awe inspiring proportions. In this she is exploring new perspectives in which we can consider our collective future, as well as charting the less tangible dynamics between entropy and order, and the fragmentation of perception through time.