Sculpting the Immaterial 2017
Adopting the pictorial conventions of ‘still life’, photographic time exposures of the practice of Ikebana explore notions of transience and decay and the impermanence of all things.
In what we now call the false photographic pressure towards truth though indexicality, we favour digital cameras that capture images in a tiny fraction of a second. In contrast, when using analogue processes, as light falls on photographic film, metallic salts are exposed in a continuous process. This exposure can be lengthy, thereby registering objects and events that may or may not be visible to the eye in the final negative. Regardless of their ‘invisibility’ this unfolding of ‘truth’ in front of the camera’s lens is recorded. An energy and potentiality towards ‘form’ is imbued in the analogue negative.
I consider Morandi in his bedroom, painting images of bottles in Bologna while fascists take hold of Italy and think about about the relevance and significance of my ‘practice’ both as an artist and as a meditator.
I also think of Luce Irigaray’s comment that in a patriarchal world “making has been a matter of constructing and erecting” to which she proposes “cultivating’ as the feminist alternative. When I look to the dictionary meaning of ‘cultivating’ it says “to try to acquire or develop (a quality, sentiment or skill). I plan to proceed with this weekly ongoing project in the spirit “cultivation” rather than “construction”.
A.
1.Curly willow or tortured willow, corkscrew willow, Salix matsudana ‘Tortusa’
2.Dianthus caryophyllus, carnation
3.Equisetum, (/ˌɛkwɪˈsiːtəm/; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass)
4. Laurus nobilis of the family Lauraceae, laurel
5.Aucuba japonica Aucuba japonica Japanese Laurel, Japanese Aucuba, Gold Dust Tree,
6.Fountain grass, Pennisetum alopecuroides
7.Maiden grass, Miscanthus sinensis
B.
1. Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum
2.Pampas Grass, Cortaderia selloana
3. Mahonia aquifolium, Oregon-grape
4. Nandina, heavenly bamboo or sacred bamboo
5. Dianthus caryophyllus, carnation
C.
1. Feather Reed Grass, Calamagrostis x acutiflora
2. Aucuba japonica Aucuba japonica Japanese Laurel, Japanese Aucuba, Gold Dust Tree.
3. Lily,
4. Laurus nobilis of the family Lauraceae, laurel
5. Pampas Grass, Cortaderia selloana
6. Sea Holly (Eryngium)
D.
1.Fountain grass, Pennisetum alopecuroide
2.Nandina, heavenly bamboo or sacred bambo0
3. Pampas Grass, Cortaderia selloana
4. Dianthus caryophyllus, carnation
5. Chrysanthemum morifolium
6. Sea Holly (Eryngium)
E.
1. Feather Reed Grass, Calamagrostis x acutiflora