lost threads (2018-2020)
Latex and bees wax on silk, muslin, cotton sheets
Dimensions variable
Dimensions variable
Lost Threads is a series of works that involved taking impressions of architectural components of home and workplace. To achieve this, the skin-like materials of latex and wax were used to capture detail, in combination with fabric, cotton sheets and silk, to give greater structure. The skin-like character of the materials also suggested the memory-laden presence of elements of architecture. The impressions of doors and windows appear familiar, but their representation as diaphanous and lacking in their original solidity, is unfamiliar and slightly unnerving, giving a sense of the uncanny. Decorative, as well as structural elements of built form, were also investigated, such as casts taken from crouched lions, symbolic protectors commonly guarding gateways and doorways through history. All the elements replicated have the resonance of deep human history. For example the lions are diminished versions of those that guarded the city gates of ancient times. Lost Threads is essentially reflections on fractured or fragile architecture, a favoured theme of contemporary art, particularly as a metaphor for the unsettled conditions of contemporary life.