Walcot Chapel
25-03-14
A group exhibition with Contemporary Arts Pratice (Bath Spa University) students, which revolved around a theme of 'the home,' what it may mean to ourselves or to others, the privileges we take for granted, what goes on behind closed doors, the significance of architecture and its role that it plays in giving an orthodox view of what a home is, as well as homelessness
From reading Skin: On the Cultural Border Between Self and the World by Claudia Benthien, some intriguing views were written about the idea of our skin being a ‘home’ for our souls. As my previous work has touched upon the theme of the body and, in particular, the skin’s surface, this seems like an interesting concept for me to progress with but changing the context in which I originally worked within.
I used the generic household essentials of milk and bread as materials within the work I displayed at the exhibition - using milk to paint and draw with (then ironing over the surface) and toasted bread and formed a miniature house-shaped sculpture. I made three collages/drawings, juxtaposing imagery of the body alongside drawings of typical house structures. The toast sculpture had a polymer clay hand gripping its form and clinging onto the stability that we think we have that comes from living in a physical home.