“Then the wind began, warm, incipient, full of voices from the past like murmurs of ancient geraniums, sighs of disenchantment that preceded the most tenacious nostalgia.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez ‘100 Years of Solitude’
Throughout this unit I have given myself the liberty to “breath”; I have allowed time to reflect and have not constantly coerced myself to produce “work” in times of creative drought. In actual fact I have found that within these stagnant periods I have been drawn towards the theoretical aspect of my artistic interest even more so and in turn have subsequently been able to continue my artistic practice in light of what I have learnt.
I began my second year after a seemingly endless summer with my teeth still firmly sunk in many of the recurring themes that I explored in my first year, however with new ideas sparked from my time travelling and directions of development. Exploring Finland in the months before I returned to university gave me a wealth of inspiration; its empty streets and vast acres of lakes resonated with a melancholic beauty that invigorated my fascination with unpopulated spaces. ‘Go to the Forest’ is a sound piece that interweaves simple Finnish poems to create hypnotic sound patterns. The central poem speaks of the loneliness of the landscape and my decision for it to be recited in Finnish, a language that I cannot speak, was to emphasis the poetic nature of language in its sound formation alone.
The first challenge of the unit came when we were encouraged to work outside the limitations of the studio and seek post-studio practices; although initially I was sceptical of the change the work that I created in my designated external space spanned over several weeks and proved to be something very engaging for me. ‘Cataloguing Calls’ explores the interface between our public lives and our private selves; the telephone box became a portal for a potentially very intimate outcome. The work consists of daily phone logs that I took when ringing a public telephone box and maps out an obsessive routine that was designed in order for me to converse with a stranger.
Pivotal to the entire unit is the group exhibition ‘Trace’ that I helped to organise and displayed work in. The exhibition was a diverse display of work that sought to explore the nature of ‘trace’ and its implications of the concept for artistic practice. The show was not only a useful exercise in curatorial skills, but it also was an invaluable insight into group organisation and the complexities that inevitably arise. The video piece that I displayed ‘I don’t remember him being ill, but I remember’ depicts the subsequent years and personal experiences that followed after the death of a father for his daughter. The interview is played against the backdrop of a gradually overflowing sink and the voice is muffled so that it is barely audible, yet uses subtitles to draw attention to what is being said. I found the group feedback session that took place during the show very constructive and was pleased with the interpretations that were discussed in concern with my work. The technical considerations that are integrated when working with film were highlighted to me after the show and emphasize the need to be more pragmatic.
