Still life
Solander Gallery, Wellington, 24 April - 2 June. Photogravure and stone lithograph (Suspended, 2012)
Works from this series are available from Solander Gallery, Wellington
Inspiration for this series of etchings stems from a collection of bird skeletons gathered over time. They have come to me as gifts, as objects found tucked amongst tidal flotsam or the detritus of the bush floor. Often bleached by the elements these small, fragile objects have seemingly outlasted their useful function, easily lending themselves to the subject and the object of my printmaking.
Human bones have what Krmpotich, and a colloquially termed research group the ‘bones collective’, call “emotive materiality and affective presence”.[1]
Bones, whether human or animal can provoke “emotional political, visceral and intellectual responses from those who encounter them”. Bones speak to us. They can be read as a sign representing something whose character can be taken from what is done with it, or as a symbol resembling a deeper meaning, its character derived from what is known by it. Bones are often responded to viscerally, as things - as body, corpse or symbol, as subjects or objects, meanings or matter, depending upon their context.
[1] Krmpotich, Cara, Joost Fontein and John Harries. The Substance of Bones: The Emotive Materiality and Affective Presence of Human Remains. Journal of Material Culture, vol.15, no.4, December 2010, Sage Publications, p.371
Human bones have what Krmpotich, and a colloquially termed research group the ‘bones collective’, call “emotive materiality and affective presence”.[1]
Bones, whether human or animal can provoke “emotional political, visceral and intellectual responses from those who encounter them”. Bones speak to us. They can be read as a sign representing something whose character can be taken from what is done with it, or as a symbol resembling a deeper meaning, its character derived from what is known by it. Bones are often responded to viscerally, as things - as body, corpse or symbol, as subjects or objects, meanings or matter, depending upon their context.
[1] Krmpotich, Cara, Joost Fontein and John Harries. The Substance of Bones: The Emotive Materiality and Affective Presence of Human Remains. Journal of Material Culture, vol.15, no.4, December 2010, Sage Publications, p.371