Ethical Concerns

becomes directly linked with one another. The work relies on direct engagement. The direct engagement between the viewer, the installation, space and work holds empathy within its power of connection and mirror affect of ones own being. It is looked at, rather than seen through, with its effective ability to occupy the space not only through visual factors but also with sound. The choice to include sound adds a new dimension to the space, in which the human senses are active but not overloaded. An overload of activating the human senses comes with the responsibility of the viewer shutting down and disassociating, rather than engaging with the work. Thus, my conscious decision to use two senses allows for the work to speak, and permits semiotic exchange through informing our feelings. We encounter a dialogue between our inner selves and our feelings which the piece informs. The installation comes into existence, it breathes through its sound, it speaks, it is finally brought to life through the viewer and their thoughts.

An intrinsic bodily experience, reduced to a video rather than the true experience of the installation. I am sceptical on the overemphasis of my works subject matter, as I would like the viewer to view the work through their own interpretation. The work consists of multiple layers, both physically and metaphorically, many meanings and assumptions can be hung on this piece. We return to the viewer. The piece ultimately acts as a mirror for the thoughts of the individual viewing it. What they think, the work becomes. Colour, weight, form and the fractured pieces of the body, become subject matters within itself. The layers of colours and synthetic plaster act as the container of the soul. The colours of the figure, although mentioned earlier, do not hold skin- like features, it can be compared to interiors (our interiors)- decayed interiors. Green, grey, red, white- the green, although all colours hold a variation of meanings, the green can be interlinked to hope, freedom- the colour of peace revolution and that of sickness, decay. Grey similarly can hold a relation to sickness, decay and despair. The red colour of hands, one half of the rib cage, knee, and feet give the sculpture a fleshy impression- it makes it human, a bodily experience. To look deeper at the piece one can even discover small hairs to further associate it with the real human figure. This object could contain a soul as easily as we do. It is as intangible as dreams, and yet we acknowledge they exist. This comparison both evidences and returns me to the notion of the unknowable.The unknowable and mystery become key factors within this art work. These key factors are what I hope will provoke the audience to look deeper in the work, uncover the layers and engage with the space and piece. Thus, what can be called as “charging the installation”, charging it with meaning, value, significance, stories.

Furthermore, we ask why I have not yet spoken of the text on the walls, ambiguous and bold: “The umbilical cord of the dream”. The interpretation of death, violence and the unconscious can be made. Taboo and the representation of the unrepresentable. The saying “tongue tied”, is imagined here in rope. Though this work and phrase are very open to different interpretations. Through my work, I have been repetitively experimenting with the form of the umbilical cord through the use of rope and tubes. Originally, this idea was born through the idea of unspeakable violence and taboo, hence the reference to tongues and silence. I have since questioned how one represents the unthinkable or unspeakable (the unrepresentable?). The mention of the rope was previously left open to a variation of interpretations, and still remains open. A further interpretation in link to my previous work can however be made: the rope of the tied tongue has de-assembled from the mouth and the human figure is fighting against this conception of silence. The silence is set free, free from the unconscious. The umbilical cord, rope, tongue, is free to dream, is free to breathe is free to speak.

The sound coming from the body can be further connected to the narrative. The sound is my own voice which has been altered through software to no longer sound as myself. It narrates poetry which I have written in debate of systemic silence, sculpture, time, dreams and justice. At times the sound is altered to the extent it becomes unknown what is being said. It returns to the unknowable and not-knowledge, further opening the installation for more interpretations to be made.

To be able to know comes with the association that we must be able to imagine. Allowing different associations and creating a sense of ambiguity is an important feature of the sculpture. Following the latest news, one could associate the colour and the fallen position of the statue with slave trader Edward Colton’s monument, which was toppled by the Black Lives Matters protestors from its plinth