Filtern (2001)
Materials:
Reclaimed aluminium printing press plates, rivets, aluminium, glass, wax, sand, water, steel and stone.
Concept:
Memories are abstract concepts.They are like a space that lies between the reality of an experience and its recollection. This ephemeral space is not something tangible, but like the soul we know the mind exists although it is not easily explained biologically.
Our memory and our emotional state are paramount in our perception. As these things grow and change so changes our ability to react and interact with the world. If we look to the natural world we find that water also possesses an ability to permeate and adapt. Water has a natural ability to change state in reaction to its environment. From solid states to liquid to gaseous – as steam, ice, frost, snow, rain, fog, water, hail, condensation and mist.
The sculptures in “filtern” explore these state changes and the biological processes and classification systems of the body. Filters, files and transformation are the underlying themes in this exploration of memory. Working with basic materials – ice, aluminium, water, steel, stone and sand – together the sculptural pieces create an installation that operates as one biological instrument controlled by temperature, which gurgles, spits, and splutters as it transforms.
‘We know water in rest, in motion, in gaseous, liquid and solid form. We know it as tiny drops, as the smooth reflective surface of a pond, stretching far and wide. We know it as a placid or rushing brook, as a raging sea, as a spraying fountain, as a drifting cloud of steam.3
We know it as frozen: as snow, crystals, frosted windowpanes, icicles etc. Its changes arise from an extraordinary adaptability to the forces acting upon it.’
