Nora Turato – and then they say it's true

Turato repeatedly employs strong, recognisable graphic elements within her works, ones which command both attention and an immediate familiarity of sorts. If previously she drew from such identifiable visuals as warning labels on cigarette packaging or Venn diagrams - the notorious staples of office culture, Turatos project for the Digilab references mindfulness videos found on Youtube or breathing apps such as ‘headspace’. These programmes and clips, which combine simplistic animated pictorial cues with voice-overs, purport to create a hypnotic, soothing effect on the viewer (the irony is not lost on the fact that these very tools that are to aid us in tuning out, require us to tune in and engage further with our screens in search of a ‘state of higher consciousness’). Turato mimics these compositions, as her shapes move and morph along to her script. Within that, she considers how to use a digital space and bring a physicality into it.

The core of Turato’s work can be seen as deeply rooted in her exploration of language - how it functions in the ever-constant cycle of information at our disposal and the collective relationship and understanding we have of it. Her practice covers an expansive breadth of approaches in examining it, encompassing performance, wall murals, printed media to videos and artist books. Turato most recently presented ‘what is dead may never die’, at MoMA, New York. Performed over three consecutive weeks, it marked her first major institutional exhibition in North America. On the occasion of the exhibition, ‘pool 5’ was released - the fifth volume in a series of annually self-published books holding the yearly collections of text and phrases accumulated by Turato which largely provide the basis for further aspects of her practice.