14.12.20 Presence and absence in my practice
NB I've also written about 16.12.20 Embodiment and disembodiment here.
My work definitely plays with presence and absence. Although there is evidence of my body in my work, it is actually often hidden or absent. In my performances with the knitted Body cocoons, I am physically present yet largely unseen, shrouded by the sculpture.
My work definitely plays with presence and absence. Although there is evidence of my body in my work, it is actually often hidden or absent. In my performances with the knitted Body cocoons, I am physically present yet largely unseen, shrouded by the sculpture.
Some of my Body cocoons demonstrating how my body is largely unseen when I wear them
I am using my whole body more and more to make my work. I have used the outline of my body to make static metal poses from my performances and also to make a canvas self portrait. I lie down, am drawn around and then get up and make the work. The outline of me obviously isn't me; I see it rather as the outline drawn around a dead body in a murder investigation. The body is absent, and yet its presence is real:
Part of the process of my latest stitched canvas self portrait, demonstrating presence and absence
There are multiple elements of presence and absence in my four most recent assemblages, Parts of me:
Installation of assemblages:
Each Part of me is assembled out of 3 separate parts, except Part of me 2, which also includes my sandals. Each one is installed differently but their installation also adds elements of apparition, I think.
- Part of me 1 looks as if it's freestanding, but is actually balanced with steel wire; against the light of the window it's translucent, ghost-like, with draped skin-like knitting
- Part of me 2 has become detached from its feet and is hovering above them, again with a draped knitted form, like a shed skin, ghost-like.
- Part of me 3 is prone, fallen, shrouded in a red blood spatter; dead, the ultimate in absence and abjection.
- Part of me 4 has also become detached from it's feet and is floating upwards, suspended.
Each of these installations adds to the sense of absence and unease of the full installation.
Each Part of me is assembled out of 3 separate parts, except Part of me 2, which also includes my sandals. Each one is installed differently but their installation also adds elements of apparition, I think.
- Part of me 1 looks as if it's freestanding, but is actually balanced with steel wire; against the light of the window it's translucent, ghost-like, with draped skin-like knitting
- Part of me 2 has become detached from its feet and is hovering above them, again with a draped knitted form, like a shed skin, ghost-like.
- Part of me 3 is prone, fallen, shrouded in a red blood spatter; dead, the ultimate in absence and abjection.
- Part of me 4 has also become detached from it's feet and is floating upwards, suspended.
Each of these installations adds to the sense of absence and unease of the full installation.
Body cocoons:
Knitting has associations with clothing and the body. These sculptures are wearable and have been worn, by me, but here they are empty, unworn, adding notions of absence, the abject and ultimately death. I researched the use of clothing in art extensively for my undergraduate dissertation in 2014, Second skin: used clothing on the works of Louise Bourgeois and Christian Boltanski.
Knitting has associations with clothing and the body. These sculptures are wearable and have been worn, by me, but here they are empty, unworn, adding notions of absence, the abject and ultimately death. I researched the use of clothing in art extensively for my undergraduate dissertation in 2014, Second skin: used clothing on the works of Louise Bourgeois and Christian Boltanski.
Jesmonite feet:
The process of casting my feet involved my whole body, hours of standing then perching. It was quite an ordeal, especially as for all that time I was unable to move and was reliant on others to do the casting and also to get things for me. It was claustrophobic and curiously also emotionally draining. Apparently, some people have after effects like shock and fainting, even 24 hours later! Fortunately, I didn't. So my body was present for the making... but as Freud describes, there is something uncanny about body parts, and especially as they are a form of self portrait. The colour of the final casts is also unnerving; they're grey, dead feet, the ultimate in absence and abjection.
The process of casting my feet involved my whole body, hours of standing then perching. It was quite an ordeal, especially as for all that time I was unable to move and was reliant on others to do the casting and also to get things for me. It was claustrophobic and curiously also emotionally draining. Apparently, some people have after effects like shock and fainting, even 24 hours later! Fortunately, I didn't. So my body was present for the making... but as Freud describes, there is something uncanny about body parts, and especially as they are a form of self portrait. The colour of the final casts is also unnerving; they're grey, dead feet, the ultimate in absence and abjection.
My shoes:
Deciding to include my sandals in the installation adds yet another level of absence. Used clothing, including shoes, tend to make people think of whoever had worn them and consequently their absence. I have written more here 7.9.20 Shoes or cast feet? and 10.11.20 My shoes and embodiment. They also provoke an abject response as they are often moulded to the specific form of the wearer's feet, they might also be stained by the sweat of the wearer and smell. Piles of used shoes make us think of concentration camps and the ultimate absence, death.
Deciding to include my sandals in the installation adds yet another level of absence. Used clothing, including shoes, tend to make people think of whoever had worn them and consequently their absence. I have written more here 7.9.20 Shoes or cast feet? and 10.11.20 My shoes and embodiment. They also provoke an abject response as they are often moulded to the specific form of the wearer's feet, they might also be stained by the sweat of the wearer and smell. Piles of used shoes make us think of concentration camps and the ultimate absence, death.
Metal body sculptures:
I used the outline of my body, drawn on a large piece of paper in various poses from my performances with my Body cocoons and made them, with the form and force of my body, with metal bar. It was like drawing with metal.
I used the outline of my body, drawn on a large piece of paper in various poses from my performances with my Body cocoons and made them, with the form and force of my body, with metal bar. It was like drawing with metal.
All of these instances of absence accumulate to make a powerful, transgressive and emotive installation.
