Big Ci Open Day
Just over a week ago, I got the privilege to be invited to reprise a very recent in-the-land installation, and speak about it and my practice at the Open Day launching the new creative residency building at BigCi in the mountain.
To say this was a huge buzz would be an understatement.
As this installation is very weather sensitive, I had it displayed throughout the day on a video presentation – just in case the wind picked up too much and it was damaged. As it is an elongated, ‘portrait’ orientation piece (i.e. the video monitor was on its side), and that would look silly uploaded, I have put up a ‘landscape’ version so you can see what I had created.
This is part of a larger body of work, which came forth from my residency at BigCi in March. When I entered that 2 weeks I had nothing, but sought to explore the emotions and feelings around the very personal experiences of grief and loss, particularly in relation to the impending loss of my mother. At the end, I had over 25 ideas, partially and fully completed works on the go!
Regarding 'Lament', I had previously worked with large scale frozen tears in various environments which I desired to again, expressing sorrow and despair, so in my head, I ran a logic game, of: how do I protect myself from those tears? ... with an umbrella seemed logical ... but what if the metaphorical weight was too much bear? ... then the umbrellas would fall ... and so, the creation of tumbling umbrellas placed in the landscape of the Wollomi forest - where my mother was born. There are several other layers and meanings within this work, and I am happy to talk about them in person.
More of this work and the other pieces spoke of above will be forming a solo show at Gallery Red in Glebe, opening on the 8th of August, provisionally titled: 'Nimis Gravis' (Latin for 'heavy weight'). My desire for this show is to visually articulate my recent and ongoing experiences so that I will hopefully be of some assistance and comfort to others walking the same inescapable path of loss and grief.