—Between our Seas /Installation/
I want to make a work that encompasses life, and in doing so, gains a life itself. Born from sights so vast and expansive that they lost themselves in wonder. I land that, having reached the edge of the world. Dismissed abandoned and stepped again.
A series of lithography and panoramic mono prints depicting the Cango Caves, South Africa. It is an intricate and interwoven portrait of a place. This work is an amalgamation of stories, histories, memories, and experiences.
The 5 meter installation was accompanied by an artist book and later transcribed into the first season of the podcast Horizons. It describes my experiences as I travelled across South Africa, learnt about local histories & ecologies, chased infinite beaches and vanishing paths, descended valleys, met apocalyptic trees and came face to face with the entrance to the underworld. From the Gauteng to the Eastern Cape, along the famous Garden Route and into the Western Cape before veering north into the aloe forests of the Gannabos.
Inspired by a research trip to South Africa in September 2015 ,my time there became a journey, both internal and external. Like photography, or painting, or any other medium, the visual became visceral. It was immediate and raw, hopeful and heart breaking, all at once.
Between Our Seas
lithography, drawing and monoprint, 2016
“There is a seduction their stillness.
Time is different here. Slower.
In the shadows you can hear the constant trickle of water. Drips out of sync with one another, stalagtites and stagmites crawling closer. One day they’ll touch.
And it’s this growth I found fascinating. Inverted even. Because geologically, cave are defined as alive or dead: only alive so long as they hollow, it’s a growth measured by its void. Death begins when their dimensions fix.
It’s strange to imagine. A growth measured by absence, an emptying out. An impossible measure ruled by immeasurable metaphors. A scientific, literary and visual personification of living space.
Exhibited
Sackler Gallery, Royal College of Art, U.K.
Gallery 46, Whitechapel, U.K.
Vault Project London, U.K.
Royal Academy of Fine Art Antwerp, Belgium
KoMASK Master Printmaking Salon, Belgium
Anise Gallery, U.K.
Awards
Villers David Travel Grant
Canadian Council for the Arts Digital Innovation Grant