2.7.20 The significance of hanging
For my undergraduate dissertation I researched the ways that Louise Bourgeois and Christain Boltanksi used second hand clothing in their work. One of the aspects I researched was how the method of installation can add meaning. Hanging, for example can amplify certain meanings. I wrote: 'Empty, used clothing inevitably has strong connotations with absence and death.' (Baker, 2014, p 12) and consequently can provoke an abject response. I also wrote
'Hanging the garments also emphasises the sculpture’s ‘fragility and vulnerability’ (Larratt-Smith 2011). Bourgeois asserts that the hanging thing ‘…is very helpless’ (in Nixon 2005:170) and ‘Hanging and floating are states of ambivalence and doubt’ (in Larratt- Smith 2011). It is clearly significant to her. I think the hanging motif distinguishes ‘very different identities for (her) sculpture…suggesting a kind of displacement’ (Barlow 1996: 9) which also adds to the feeling of abjection.' (ibid, p 15)
Although I was writing about used clothing, it's clear that these ideas will also relate to hanging any cloth, including my soft sculptures.
Gravity and tension play a part in hanging as well, creating a slumping or flexible yet taut form.
Baker, L (2014) Second skin: used clothing in the works of Louise Bourgeois and Christian Boltanski Undergraduate dissertation Available at: https://www.academia.edu/32294698/Second_skin_used_clothing_and_representations_of_the_body_in_the_work_of_Louise_Bourgeois_and_Christian_Boltanski (Accessed 29 April 2020)
Baker, L (2020) Critical knitting; knitting as a research method, unpublished post-graduate essay
'Hanging the garments also emphasises the sculpture’s ‘fragility and vulnerability’ (Larratt-Smith 2011). Bourgeois asserts that the hanging thing ‘…is very helpless’ (in Nixon 2005:170) and ‘Hanging and floating are states of ambivalence and doubt’ (in Larratt- Smith 2011). It is clearly significant to her. I think the hanging motif distinguishes ‘very different identities for (her) sculpture…suggesting a kind of displacement’ (Barlow 1996: 9) which also adds to the feeling of abjection.' (ibid, p 15)
Although I was writing about used clothing, it's clear that these ideas will also relate to hanging any cloth, including my soft sculptures.
Gravity and tension play a part in hanging as well, creating a slumping or flexible yet taut form.
Baker, L (2014) Second skin: used clothing in the works of Louise Bourgeois and Christian Boltanski Undergraduate dissertation Available at: https://www.academia.edu/32294698/Second_skin_used_clothing_and_representations_of_the_body_in_the_work_of_Louise_Bourgeois_and_Christian_Boltanski (Accessed 29 April 2020)
Baker, L (2020) Critical knitting; knitting as a research method, unpublished post-graduate essay