No matter what media you work with and how small or big you work, in the end it's always a very limited space so you have to choose carefully what you fill it with. Elisa Markes-Young likes to refine something until she feels it's saying what she wants to say, as economically and as direct as possible. She says that she can relate to the famous Robert Louis Stevenson quote: 'To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive and the true success is in labour.' You obviously have a feeling of achievement when you finish a piece, it turned out the way you wanted it to and the audience approves. But it's a bit like when you at last get your Christmas present - to get it is nothing compared to the anticipation. Expectation is an intensive and very pleasant experience - it has an element of hope to it. Then the moment is there and it's over. It's almost disappointing. That's how I see my work as an artist. Elisa read somewhere that the finished artwork is only a 'product', a 'result of art'. The process is art. This is an interesting point of view and when you look at the way that leads to the finished piece it makes a lot of sense. When Elisa starts a new piece she knows exactly what she wants to say but she doesn't know how the piece will look like. Of course she designs her pieces - at the end of all the work she puts into each piece there will be a result and it shouldn't just tell a story, but it has to tell a story well. If it doesn't then it isn't really an effective piece of work.

As Elisa Markes-Young works she progressively develops the details. Basically she needs the process of actually creating the artwork to define it and its final form. You could say that the process leads her. Working this way makes the experience of creating truly a 'hopeful journey'. She hopes that when she arrives she'll have said what she wanted to say. She hopes that she'll have learnt something about her work and about herself. She hopes that the work she's doing now will enable her to create something better the next time. And she hopes that there will be a next time - the fear of not having any more pictures left in her, not to have anything else to share is always with her.

In her work Elisa Markes-Young uses mostly natural fibres, textiles, techniques and skills that are - at least in cultures of European origin - traditionally attributed to the female field of experience. The aim is to recreate not so much figurative works but rather the mood. We might not all admit it, but we all want the audience to look at what we do. That's why we exhibit. As we do so we want the audience to like what we like. With every piece of work we put on show we put ourselves out there as well for everyone to see and for everyone - knowledgable or not - to criticise. That's why we exhibit. As we do so we want the audience to like what we like. With every piece of work we put on show we put ourselves out there as well for everyone to see and for everyone - knowledgable or not - to criticise. This is an interesting point of view and when you look at the way that leads to the finished piece it makes a lot of sense. When Elisa starts a new piece she knows exactly what she wants to say but she doesn't know how the piece will look like. Of course she designs her pieces - at the end of all the work she puts into each piece there will be a result and it shouldn't just tell a story, but it has to tell a story well. If it doesn't then it isn't really an effective piece of work.We might not all admit it, but we all want the audience to look at what we do. That's why we exhibit. As we do so we want the audience to like what we like. With every piece of work we put on show we put ourselves out there as well for everyone to see and for everyone - knowledgable or not - to criticise.