Inner PieceAfter Unmasked I had a break to creatively recover. This break coincided with the birth of my daughter Niamh, which was a life-changing event and turned out to be not much of a break at all! It took me a long time to adjust and to be able to find time to be creative again. However, emboldened by the success of Unmasked, I decided to experiment some more. As a result, this exhibition provided a showcase for my first conceptual piece. It was both funny and serious, and stirred memories in its audience. See below for 2 minutes of video footage.
Titled "Worlds Within Worlds," the following text accompanied the work: A quote by Alice from Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland', just after she has a growth spurt: "I almost think I can remember feeling a little different...Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the greatest puzzle". The train represents the journey of life, which brings experience that in turn brings revelation, shedding light on a previously hidden mystery (light being a metaphor for transformation, shifting something from one place to another). However, it becomes an effort to construct the whole meaning, with parts easily coming into view and then slipping away again. The unusual perspective of the 'Duplo' shows that in life, some things are blown out of proportion, appearing bigger to us than they should, and symbolises the world we construct: house, car, family, job, etc. The world in the sculpture is out of proportion to us and to itself, just like Alice's world. For some of us, this can explain an emotional syndrome where we over-emphasize a problem we are experiencing and it takes our friends and family to help return perspective to normality. In the end, this sculpture is all about perspective: it can be enjoyed for what it is (a return to simple childhood joys of playing with trains and 'Duplo') or it can be read as representing our life experiences and our perception of those experiences, or it can be read as something wider. Do we place too much emphasis on our own existence, living within the confines of the 'train track', or should we move beyond our self-imposed limits and consider others, the wider world and our impact on those beyond our immediate locale? Would this downscale our personal lives and bring them into a better perspective? You decide. All aboard... Back to Work |
|
|
|
