Marge Monko (1976, Tallinn, Estonia) primarily works with photography, installation and moving images, and her practice is particularly interested in how these mediums are and have been used as tools in science, politics, publicity, etc. Her works are often inspired by historical images and influenced by theories of psychoanalysis, feminism and visual culture. Depending on the subject, Monko employs methods including documentation, staging and appropriation – often combining these different approaches.
Monko has long been working with themes related to women’s roles in society and how these have developed over time. Her recent projects have explored the visual aspects that shape us and our values, including demonstrations of how advertisements and the display of commodities define women as well as the keywords used to construct femininity in commercial culture: beauty, desirability and fertility.

Monko lives and works in Tallinn, Estonia. Her previous solo exhibitions include Tallinn City Gallery; mumok, Vienna; Tartu Art Museum; Platán Galéria, Budapest; and Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki; as well as group exhibitions at Art Space Pythagorion, Samos; Electronic Arts Festival, Bozar, Brussels; Framer Framed, Amsterdam; Balassi Institute, Ljubljana; Riga Art Space; CCA Glasgow; Bétonsalon, Paris; and Manifesta 9, Genk. She studied photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and was the recipient of the Henkel Art.Award in 2012. Marge Monko is represented by Ani Molnár Gallery, Budapest.

Text: Chris Clarke

read more...