Work Statment

I have always had an interest in the body, ergonomics, body image, perception, and the shock of the mirror, internal and external identity.

My studio practice this year began with an object. I was drawn to the bra on account of its visual possibilities, its capacity for visual associations. Overall in retrospect I think it most interested me on a psychological level- it is supporting- it holds things, protects them.... but I digress.

The bra in turn brought me back to the body. I first began to examine the body in the same medical manner as I had the bra, trying to take it apart with the hope of eventually putting it back together. I was (and still am) using personal diary entries (regarding bras) in order to clasp it all together.

This looking at the bra and the diary’s led me on to thinking about memory as a process, the storage of memory. From this thought I started to make the books and then the box..... I really liked these objects as they demanded the viewer to take part in a physical interaction with the pieces; the viewer had to open them out in order to view them fully.





Then due to a tutorial and a crit I began to question the images and text in these works, it all came off as a bit cold, didactic- there was very little room left for the viewers interpretation, very little elbow room- they lacked subtlety...it was altogether too prescriptive.
Since this realisation I’ve been playing around more freely in a less ‘graphic’ and medical manner with the body. In order to facilitate this I took a series of photographs of myself getting dressed and undressed. I really liked this ‘idea’ of getting undressed- a process of revealing, hiding and revealing, sexuality, venerability and voyeurism, the unease of reading some else’s diary- all rolled into a subtle image.

I have thought a little about the significance of using my own body. At the time I did it due to availability (we don’t have a female model in life drawing class) but now I feel that the use of my own body adds to the personal and autobiographical element in my work. From these photos and life drawing I made a series of drawings and quick sketch like paintings of the figure. I did this mostly to clear my head and to distance myself a bit. However a really like there instantaneous and semi washed out quality- they visualise my concept of memory... there somewhere between forgotten and existence, distant yet present.
I put a selection of these drawings up on the wall to reflect on them more clearly and I began to enjoy the dialog between them as characters in my mind...

The isolation of the female figure (me) undressing however was what really resonated for me. I like that it’s everyday and routine. Everyday routines are after all what like is made up of, the banality- if we can find beauty in there then its all more enjoyable... each moment savoured- like in Zen Buddhism.

I remade the box as I like it as a visual regarding the concept of storage. I am thinking about the body as a vessel for memory- perhaps we store them (memories) in our gestures? They surface in the banal moments of day to day life, I am interested in these moments- they count- they are the grains of sand that make up our lives.

Over the last few days I have made up a series of boxes out of different materials indicative of storage...I haven’t yet really made up my mind about how I feel about these objects and where I feel they are going. I think on a whole I need to look at the body in a less pre-established manner and perhaps broaden out the subject of diaries into stories. I recently went to see the ‘bookish’ exhibition in cork and this has had a huge impact on how I feel I will continue to work. Since making the fabric box’s I felt like I missed paper, researching Ellen Gallagher has helped revive my imagination with regards to this medium.

Researching Tracy Emin and Louise bourgeois has greatly broadened my perception on the use of the body, I feel Louise bourgious’s work has opened my mind to how non literal and suggestive the body can be in Art. I hope to continue working on this vein hopefully with a newly broadened base of ideas.