Whilst we wait for tiny baby Rose to play catch-up with life outside the womb in the postnatal ward, I received an email from Green Hill Arts in Moretonhampstead, a gallery I had discovered on a recent visit to Dartmoor. They are asking for proposals of interest for hiring the gallery in 2013. Thinking this would be a good opportunity to start working towards a fixed point in time, I started to cobble together some sort of cohesive proposal in less than 300 words. Something along the lines of:
Fabric of the Land. (working title: Making Waves)
For this proposed exhibition at Green Hill Arts, I would like to show the outcome from various lines of enquiry that I am currently working on. My focus, in particular, is on the elemental aspects that make up the very substance of the land: physical / non-physical; seen / hidden from view; experienced and imagined.
Still from Fade to Black
Recently, I have been using the human figure to explore the ‘thin veil’ that exists between the physical, material world of matter, and the spiritual, ethereal world of myth and the supernatural. The result of this enquiry is a series of short videos exploring shadows as trace elements of human activity, using light as my medium. (See ‘stills’ from Dip to White, and Fade to Black). When combining ‘shadow’ imagery (absence of light) against other elements such as water, it gives the reflection of the human figure a fluidity of movement that distorts the image so that it no longer represents a true mirror but reveals potential for graphic and poetic responses as well as a range of historical references and meanings.
Still from Dip to White
Literal interpretations thus become abstracted into reflections (ponderings) on the distortions of waves of energy: in water, light (and air) and sound. The shadow itself is a displacement of light from the figure. As eddies and ripples vibrate around the solid objects of figure and boulders, the energy of the reflection becomes integrated into the energy of the water. The air also, is filled with refracted sound waves in a collision of gurgles and laps, bouncing and bumping into each other as they eddy and ripple around objects in their flow.
As I continue to explore this theme, both visually and philosophically, I envisage new work being realised in a range of media: anything from more video work, to mixed media which incorporates freehand machine ‘drawing’ on textiles – hence possible title. I am very happy to share the exhibition with other artists working along similar lines of enquiry, although I shall probably have more than enough work to fill the space.
