KARST: EXHIBITION STATEMENT
GRANDMOTHERS, BREASTS AND BLOODLINES: An Ocean of Tenderness.
I call upon the Grandmothers, the ancient and vibrant ones.
‘I hear them in the air, in the trees, in all the objects around - they are everywhere and in everything, unseen and yet sensed. They communicate with and through my body’.
I gather ritual allies (natural materials), and carry them in domestic vehicles. I acknowledge elemental powers, forces and directions, and give thanks.
A safe space is demarcated, in which to listen and obey.
A river runs through, of this world and not, so that ‘they’ can sing to themselves through the livingness of matter, here and now.
I feel a stretching that gathers, consolidates and ‘pulls in’, to include more here – evoking a soul sense that is profoundly intimate and yet more-than the singular, encapsulated, isolated sense of human as individual.
I come here to 'vote' - meaning 'to gather and give voice (or gesture) to what's important' - in a sense to devote. It's an act of devotion.
I leave traces of this contact, of love and longing (Be-longing).
Echoes of which will be felt sliding forwards and backwards in time…
A resonance left within the walls of the gallery.
BREAST COAT
I am exploring the essence of Breast:
Generosity, welcome, nurturance, giving back to and supportive of life.
Visceral sense of support, a soft tender embrace.
Humility, vulnerability, power.
Our Original sense of time and place, of universe.
Mythical lens / everyday ordinary domestic lens.
Tender encounter with women friends in the casting of their breasts.
The making of a ritual garment – takes time and energy and focus to create – a ‘building up’ of power / potency / engagement.
A series of ceremonial ‘happenings’ have taken place. The audience is invited into an intimate space of learning and finding out (not knowing). The call is to be present to something, to join the making of something, to attune and respond. The ‘private’ sphere is expanded, we are a part of a much larger web, together with a multiplicity of beings. Everything is real.
KARST – exhibition space
In the exhibition space:
Hanging breast coat – it’ll be the same size as a long coat, hopefully.
Ceremonial ritual: taking place in KARST – private – will record a post-script of the ceremony.
Sound piece either listened to on headphones or accessed via internet to listen to on individual phones. Record intimacy of ceremony, the sounds etc – then voice over from the postscript – of what my experience of the ceremony was. Ceremony relates to architecture of KARST, the structure, materials – stone –
‘intimate time spent’ – private – create an atmosphere.
Allow something to be expressed – a co-creation – elements – allies – place – time (nightime?).
Inquiry space – a finding out
More important to attune to work.
Traces of ceremony will be left in the gallery space – (blood!), mud, flowers, ritual objects.
A sense of leading the audience through the space, the breat coat maybe the ‘finale’!
It would be good to do the ceremony on Monday evening – so I have time to create the sound piece. But I recognise that other people’s work may not be installed by then….?
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