Under Where??

I am starting new project and line of investigation for the last portion of my time at Metafora. I want to make an installation of dirty women's underwear.

I have asked my women friends, contacts and their friends to donate one or two pairs of their used unwashed underwear. I have not censored this list, it includes my mother, my previous bosses, colleagues, school friends, everyone. This request in itself has provoked a wide range of reactions that i feel are a worthy of debate. I would like to provide this space to converse.

As I get reactions I will post them on the blog as well as post my responses to this. However I would really like to INVITE you to post on the blog.

This is meant to be a piece that invites us to think about what this means to us, to others, in the wider context. It is so interesting to already see so many different reactions from "floor i love you this is great" to "well i'm not sure about this one". What is interesting to me is why? What makes you say that? Its about questioning our own assumptions....and having this be a place where it may lead us to a new way of viewing ourselves as women or not?

from lids to jar bottoms

"untitled", 300 x 20 cm, 2010 nairobi

Somehow I am obsessed by piles - piles of things. This time the pile was formed in a collaborative family effort. A perfect way to spend time together & create. The inspiration was still the jar, this time the other end.

stacked & happy

here is the tower of lids - an unconscious ode to dr. seuss. its tall and untitled

lids reproduced

fascinated by repeated shapes and piles of things - i looked for random things to stack. here i made 'lid' molds out of clay and reproduced 'stacks' of them in plaster.

lids

to continue the theme of balance yet in the context of simplicity - quite a move away from the more complex materials of glass over which i had very little mastery - i have been fascinated by the lid of a jar. the idea of piling lids came from the mysterious clan of rock pilers. instead of piling rocks i thought in the spirit of minimalism, lets pile lids.

reflections

that was my statement with my first moving sculpture - a few details and studies to keep your eyes busy & watching me learn how to blog more blah on my work....

balancing space & identity

I stand in front of a mirror – my mirror image – my life, and marvel. What is my part in this place as part of the world, the whole? I start to shape and paint what I see. What do the transient shadows reveal about space balancing? How do the shades, shapes lines and layers define the new space? Their positions are fleeting and the layers continuously veil and then reveal a universal essence. Through movement and time, forms and shades seem to fade into a pale and distant obscurity.




The intention is to create a moving space of identity that reflects and deflects through different transparent materials: glass, mirror and Perspex. Though it is made of steel it is hung from fishing line creating a sense of ‘lightness’. The movement of the sculpture is shaped through the wind and the reflected by the light. The viewer’s interaction creates a personal moment - where new aspects of identity can be recognized. A reflection provides a point of view - belonging or estrangement?




The piece is symbolic for diversity, unity and definitions of identity. It is made up of ‘individual’ parts that form a whole with each unique piece balanced cautiously. The sculpture is the medium where the viewer views and is viewed. This is a space where the viewer and the subject are one. Some parts can exist alone; others are strengthened or have to be supported by being connected - like our relationships. As the context and shape change so does the reflection and identity. What creates identity – the mirrors or what the viewer sees in them? Who identifies whom? Who defines whom?