8.4.21 Research and development of the idea of the cage
The idea of framing my sculptures within a cage has been developing over the past couple of years. In September 2019, just as I started my MA, I installed several pieces of my work in a decommissioned prison at the B-Wing exhibition. Knitting is critical to my practice. Traditionally, knitting has associations with comfort and the private sphere; it’s functional, perfect and finished. My work subverts these expectations; it’s sculptural, abstract, discomforting and often unravelling. Knitting also has associations with garments and the body; its soft impermanence reminds us of our mortality. It’s wonderfully flexible and perfect for site responsive installations, so having the opportunity to install my work, using tension and gravity, in such a space, full of bars, cells and steel grids was enlightening. The contrasts between the soft, knitted cloth against the harsh, geometric concrete and steel architecture of the prison was compelling. Placing knitting in such a setting is what the anthropologist Mary Douglas describes as ‘matter out of place’ (1966, p64). It leads to feelings of abjection and discomfort (Kristeva, 1982). Situating my knitted soft sculptures in such an emotionally charged environment was also very disquieting. This cage is my attempt to bring elements of that environment temporarily into a more conventional art setting, as a frame for my knitted sculptures. Like Young’s safe analytic space, I envisage my cage to be a space in which difficult things can be ‘contained, …detoxified, and given back … in a form which can be used as food for thought’ (Young, no date).
This theme of protection and restraint has continued to develop over the last year. I have knitted a series of wearable Body cocoons and also made two steel Body cages.
Click here (or on the image below) for visual documentation of the research and development of using a cage to frame my sculptures.
This theme of protection and restraint has continued to develop over the last year. I have knitted a series of wearable Body cocoons and also made two steel Body cages.
Click here (or on the image below) for visual documentation of the research and development of using a cage to frame my sculptures.
Douglas, M (1966) Purity and Danger. An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
Kristeva, Julia, 1982, Powers of Horror, Available from: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/art206/readings/kristeva%20-%20powers%20of%20horror[1].pdf, (Accessed: 27 September 2013)
Young, R. (no date) The analytic frame, abstinence and acting out Available at: http://www.psychoanalysis-and-therapy.com/human_nature/papers/pap110h.html(Accessed: 23 March 2021)
Kristeva, Julia, 1982, Powers of Horror, Available from: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/art206/readings/kristeva%20-%20powers%20of%20horror[1].pdf, (Accessed: 27 September 2013)
Young, R. (no date) The analytic frame, abstinence and acting out Available at: http://www.psychoanalysis-and-therapy.com/human_nature/papers/pap110h.html(Accessed: 23 March 2021)