Sites of Resistance 1; The work of Cathy Wilkes
As part of my research project, I am interested in observing how people negotiate sites of resistance and how this resistance is transformed into new knoweldge. How I, as an artist/educator/mother, human being, negotiate my ways through moments of resistance, and how I may design creative ways to mediate this conversations through live actions.
Observing my reaction and people's reaction to the work will be a learning platform.
I present a series of posts which are notes dictated to my phone and verbally recorded during my quiet times in the gallery and during breaks. Watching the work of Cathy Wilkes and sharing thoughts with the public and other research fellows becomes a thinking process 'on the job'. These posts will present the advantage of showing loose thinking and will be only lightly edited to retain a sense of liveness.
Today (end of last week- post delayed by internet block)
I am going to be recording the sites of resistance which I observe in the gallery. When thinking of resistance, I also
think of the agency of the materials presented in the work, and how things have been so carefully placed in the space.
I can see objects which present resistance in the gallery.
Some present resistance to interpretation and/or how people cope with interpreting the work. The lack of text for example presents a resistance to prescription. Some found objects from everyday day life provoke discontent from a public which comes with high expectations of craftmanship; people are chocked into fragility and vulnerability.
The fragility of the work is a sign of resistance to the life and presence; visitors are becoming a threat to the work. The presence of human beings and the presence of any life such as the bugs which we monitor daily also portrays a form of resistance.
Today, I will go around the pavilion to take pictures that presents resistance in the gallery and beyond.
In fact I am in room 6 and 5 at the moment and I think I cannot see one object that does not present a form of resistance.
The book left unopen but nevertheless showing a every small part of an image incites the viewer to curiosity. The placing of a table, a character not fully formed, plates o a wall...everything leaves the visitors to wonder, raising unanswered questions.
Entering Room 1;
The doors can be seen as a first site of resistance as we only let 15 people in at a time. We have long queues at times and in that place of resistance, we negotiate by explaining to people that they are getting an intimate experience with the work if waiting; the negotiation is essential to their understanding and patience.
When they enter, there's no text, no explanation of the work.
They look for it. Right-Left- Two white walls- and finally some go left to discover a small picture of children in a bath.
This picture has not been made by Cathy Wilkes. It is one of her chosen objects. Five children are in a bath, washing each others, caring for one another, but the back of the bath is not drawn. The bath has no limit and seems offered as an open space.
The life which it tries to contain somehow pours out and spills into the rest of the space. The story begins
4, not 5.
One is missing. A sense of loss already suggests the next room
Other signs of physical resistance invite a spiritual interpretation considering vulnerability, the ephemaral, the liveness and a constant threat of loss and disapearance;
papier mache tummies absorbe humidity, changing colours and shape.
People entering the room with yellow clothes on bring out the colours in the work, other colours come as a clash.
There is resistance in the placement of the objects nothing is centred nothing is placed to make the visitor comfortable. everything is slightly out of where it 'should be'.
This creates a sense of discomfort which the mind is trying to fix; the picture of the children in the bath is hung lower than should be, at child's height. Each child figure in the room is looking somewhere else further than where they are, maybe at each others, maybe into the future.
The children are not aligned with the space, they look as if they were walking, or going to walk, all on the verge of moving somewhere else.
The Lily of the Valley in room one is placed on a small mat which becomes its own shadow; left in the corner of the room not centred on the wall, slightly out of place again, but becomes all the more essential.
The paintings seem to be the only place without resistance. A place where peace is found. Representing the light that brings them all together. The natural light which inundates each room with a different shade of white. A place where resistance has been negotiated. A place where peace has been found, for a while.
Room 2 ; a scene which could be interpreted either as a birth, a miscarriage, an adoption, nevertheless leaves a sense of loss which happened behind closed curtains and blurry windows. The untold story of a women.
The last room shows old age and perhaps the wisdom which grew out of it all.
The losses have been contained and accepted, reflected upon. New ways of negotiated life have emerged, we have created our own truth and have been changed forever.
A fabric hung on wire a frame attempts to repeat the image of the altar but is now sagging, slowly losing resistance to the elements, giving away. The work is slowly changing shape like the human body through time, sagging and showing signs of tears.
Within this time, we reflect, we rest we breathe, we stop resisting, we embrace and revisit our memories during a journey back through all the rooms.
Observing my reaction and people's reaction to the work will be a learning platform.
I present a series of posts which are notes dictated to my phone and verbally recorded during my quiet times in the gallery and during breaks. Watching the work of Cathy Wilkes and sharing thoughts with the public and other research fellows becomes a thinking process 'on the job'. These posts will present the advantage of showing loose thinking and will be only lightly edited to retain a sense of liveness.
Today (end of last week- post delayed by internet block)
I am going to be recording the sites of resistance which I observe in the gallery. When thinking of resistance, I also
think of the agency of the materials presented in the work, and how things have been so carefully placed in the space.
I can see objects which present resistance in the gallery.
Some present resistance to interpretation and/or how people cope with interpreting the work. The lack of text for example presents a resistance to prescription. Some found objects from everyday day life provoke discontent from a public which comes with high expectations of craftmanship; people are chocked into fragility and vulnerability.
The fragility of the work is a sign of resistance to the life and presence; visitors are becoming a threat to the work. The presence of human beings and the presence of any life such as the bugs which we monitor daily also portrays a form of resistance.
In fact I am in room 6 and 5 at the moment and I think I cannot see one object that does not present a form of resistance.
The book left unopen but nevertheless showing a every small part of an image incites the viewer to curiosity. The placing of a table, a character not fully formed, plates o a wall...everything leaves the visitors to wonder, raising unanswered questions.
Entering Room 1;
 |
| The door, a threshold between the heat outside and the fresh cool air of the room; a prize that visitors have to earn through queuing. |
When they enter, there's no text, no explanation of the work.
They look for it. Right-Left- Two white walls- and finally some go left to discover a small picture of children in a bath.
This picture has not been made by Cathy Wilkes. It is one of her chosen objects. Five children are in a bath, washing each others, caring for one another, but the back of the bath is not drawn. The bath has no limit and seems offered as an open space.
The life which it tries to contain somehow pours out and spills into the rest of the space. The story begins
The picture also resists photography, obstructed by the daylight coming through the door and by my own reflection.
The rest of the room;
a large box frame covered in a thin transluscent fabric (Pinapple fibre) occupies centre stage, yet , it presents resistance by not being centred in the space, thus leaving even more importance to the 4 children figures around.4, not 5.
One is missing. A sense of loss already suggests the next room
The natural light creates a sense of eareness which our eyes can not refocus. Our sight resists the empty spaces by refusing to surrender to the object; the space works like a painting whithin which we are forced to travel in order to adjust; an invitation which pushes intimacy with each element presented.
Two unwritten books, open on the altar show how the artist invites people's curiosity. They can not touch - this resistance provokes a form of discontent which hopes to tease the mind into a deep reflection;
"What is this blank book for?"
"What does it mean?"
"Can I draw on it?"
"Can I write my view? Oh, but I havent seen the rest fo the exhibition yet. "
"Why two books?"...etc.
Having spent so much time with the exhibition, I make my own interpretation. I now see the first and second books as a representation of the mother and the father. The altar may also become the family bed where life is concieved; the only physical mention of the father in the all exhibition, his absence all the more felt throughout the space, leaves traces of an unspoken wound.
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| The bush, which people walk around, could be kicked out of place, anytime... |
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| The fabric sagging under humidity changes the shape of the book which sits on top. |
papier mache tummies absorbe humidity, changing colours and shape.
The summer light currently invading the room will darken over the winter months.
each object carefuly placed slightly out of place...
The washing bowl, always waiting to be kicked by visitors
There is resistance in the placement of the objects nothing is centred nothing is placed to make the visitor comfortable. everything is slightly out of where it 'should be'.
This creates a sense of discomfort which the mind is trying to fix; the picture of the children in the bath is hung lower than should be, at child's height. Each child figure in the room is looking somewhere else further than where they are, maybe at each others, maybe into the future.
The children are not aligned with the space, they look as if they were walking, or going to walk, all on the verge of moving somewhere else.
The Lily of the Valley in room one is placed on a small mat which becomes its own shadow; left in the corner of the room not centred on the wall, slightly out of place again, but becomes all the more essential.
The paintings seem to be the only place without resistance. A place where peace is found. Representing the light that brings them all together. The natural light which inundates each room with a different shade of white. A place where resistance has been negotiated. A place where peace has been found, for a while.
Room 2 ; a scene which could be interpreted either as a birth, a miscarriage, an adoption, nevertheless leaves a sense of loss which happened behind closed curtains and blurry windows. The untold story of a women.
The last room shows old age and perhaps the wisdom which grew out of it all.
The losses have been contained and accepted, reflected upon. New ways of negotiated life have emerged, we have created our own truth and have been changed forever.
A fabric hung on wire a frame attempts to repeat the image of the altar but is now sagging, slowly losing resistance to the elements, giving away. The work is slowly changing shape like the human body through time, sagging and showing signs of tears.
Within this time, we reflect, we rest we breathe, we stop resisting, we embrace and revisit our memories during a journey back through all the rooms.
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