East/West 2011
This work has been part of an installation called 'Matter of Interpretation' (MOI) based on my recent research in Nigeria. It also depicts an ongoing development of my work on walls, panels, and floor pieces, with earth being a central feature in making and my concepts. The terracotta clay used in past work has had connotations with the African earth, and here the rocks are a continuation of this in different form. These rocks came from Kenya and embody a sense of place and time for me. The 'authentic' contrasted with the 'fake' being a reflection of my experiences and on another level the shifting reality and illusion of life. In our current times it also alludes to our times both politically and socially both in UK and abroad.
This installation builds on the work called ‘Matter of Interpretation’ which is evolving by adding or taking away elements as the venue and the ideas change. In the show at the St.John the Baptist Crypt, Bristol there was:
Click on links below to view work
MOI (Coconut Shy)
This work is about cultural diversity and the lost symbolism in it for us in the UK. Historically the coconut shy originated as an 'Aunt Sally', which was an effigy of a woman's head which had balls thrown at it, this then changed to a black person's head, and now coconuts are used, which still has exotic associations. I feel that if people knew of its origins perhaps they would think differently about this activity, which intentionally brings this piece into the arena of transcultural politics.
MOI (7 Rocks)
These works comprise a series of seven pairs, based on the idea of ethnographic objects brought back from Kenya, Africa, and put into museum cases, making the objects, which in some sense are mundane, precious. The idea behind this is to make the viewer question which rock is more valuable, the natural, rare, original and authentic one, or the fake, gold leafed one. The natural rock, which l value most highly, encapsulated memories of living and working in Kenya, which I would never be able to replicate again. The fake rock was then seen by the public as 'fools gold' and yet it was often the gold leafed version that they were most attracted to.
MOI (Posters)
This photographic format alludes to reality and illusion again but the image being another step removed from the reality of the actual rock. This idea also takes from concepts that Magritte conveyed in his paintings, 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe' and 'The human Condition' in relationship reality and allusion, much as Plato describes the shadows on the cave wall as an illusion of the real, in 'The Republic'.
MOI (Grave)
The heaped rocks connect with the ground and mortality, part of the reality of all things and also a continuity of past work. Having been placed directly over a grave they are poignant in the context of the crypt. The idea of repetition by casting the same five rocks alines with reproduction and fertility, which is often in itself associated with death – again opposites.
