Rises and Falls is a series of works exploring how traces of previous actions simultaneously become triggers of distorted recollections and blank canvases of new experiences. An echo slices through the silent gallery space at irregular intervals; a lavender scent wedges into the nooks and crannies of door frames as we cross thresholds into new spaces; a hand-knitted elastic bag, a formless vessel hangs empty, expecting to be filled; copies of two photographs sit in an outdated library catalogue, adorned with obsolete letter racks, waiting to be taken away. They are MacGuffins of personal histories, empty shells, expectant, awaiting the unfolding of new actions. The works echo each other and themselves, and the repeated gestures of the body – foot steps, heart beats, inhaling and exhaling, weave them together.
I once tried to explain to someone what an epileptic fit was like - the before, the during, the aftermath. It is like falling into an echo. To be in search of lost time, even if the actual time that is lost seems insignificant, a matter of seconds. By attempting to retrace the disjointed imagery, sounds, scents and textures of my memory, everything feels tangible. But my body is an empty vessel and I have to constantly return to the echoes of before and after, to gather them up into something concrete before they fade away.
The island is a solitary ridge / Ön är en ensam ås
Volcanic in nature / Vulkanisk i natur
Two caves / Två grottor
Who fill and empty with the tide / Som fyller och tömmer med tidsvattnet
Where traces of echoes have been found /Där ekande spår tidigare har hittats
These works are spread out over two distinct sites and respond accordingly to the pre-existing architectural and interior features present in the spaces. Arches, passageways and thresholds act as sites of transition: a conscious movement between places and a metaphorical shrugging off of a past. A step towards the new, or at least, the unknown. The figure of the presence of time, and our bodies as conduits for this motion, flow through the installation, guiding the audience through the labyrinthine corridors of the museum, and attaching themselves to the viewer - the infiltration of a scent, a pocketed postcard, or an echo which resounds in one's head. The world rises and falls: as do our footsteps, breath, gaze, movements of action and passivity in daily rhythms.
RISES AND FALLS
2016-17
Hand-knitted nylon elastic, aluminium tent poles, sound, lavender oil, deodorant, found serviette holders, colour photographs, library card catalogue
Exhibited as part of Impasse Finesse Neverness, Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia da UFBA, Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, 28 January - 28 February 2017.
Rises and Falls is the culmination of a project that was part of the year-long course Immediate Archaeologies run by Luis Berríos-Negrón, and with accompanying publication Impasse Finesse Neverness (The course formerly known as Immediate Archaeologies), available upon request.
