Practice —
Women and
Objects
“‘No, she quite calmly reached the conclusion that the notion of distinct domains separated by homogeneous borders does not make much sense.’”
(Latour)
Being currently situated as an MA student at the RCA, I am in the position of re-thinking the perimeters and materialities of my practice. This has taken the form of considering the significance of (in)visibility in relation to the object and the parallels of this with the (in)visibilty of Women.
Both sound and text have become significant materials – useful due to immateriality and their conflicts and challenges with being seen. In a recent work, Tell Me!, speakers were positioned inside a storage area to which a sound piece emitted voices indirectly conversing around forms of objects. The positioning of which immediately instigated the conversation of being heard and the repercussions of this.
In a recent piece of writing entitled, Ersilia: Excavating the (In)visibility of objects, the complications of the powers of invisibility, of not being heard or seen are explored. The text continues the difficulties attached to the agency in not being heard. Whether, it is remaining invisible in order to remain outside of the frame of sameness and instead marking out a space for difference. Drawing from thoughts from thinkers such as Peggy Phelan and Judith Butler who both invite the plausibility of being visible without being seen and visa versa.
It is with this in mind that material becomes a contested product of creation. And as such, it is the forms of sound and writing and the performative nature of them, at the centre of my practice. They carry with them an unintelligibility, a volatile pronouncement, occupying the interstices of visibility. Maintaining a desire to remain hidden whilst comprehending the necessity of communication. Much of which has reverberations in feminist thinking and the position that Women, as well as minority groups, inhabit.
Given the perforative nature of both sound and writing, both pose opportunities for operating on edges and borders as opposed to sitting within confining defined categories. Therefore offering sites for intrigue, invention and a virtuosic entangling of language and (in)visibility.
Excavating the
(in)visibility of Objects
(in)visibility of Objects
Come this way. Only through the trees can you see the tenebrous sky. This is particularly true now; spindly lopsided rectangles of blank greyness are intercepted by a parallelogram of blank greyness interrupted by multiple criss-crossings of indistinguishable shapes and blank greyness.
- Map of Ersilia
- Ecologies of the Site and Surroundings
- Approach of the Site
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Digger 1
- Site Photographer
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Processing of Finds