4 projector slide dissolve work 2010
The work is a meditative piece that follows the 10 or more ways that come together in the cell to cause it to die and us to age; the protein debris that accumulates, the chromosome damage produced, etc. etc. The work blends the processes at play in the cell with the ‘protagonist’ of the work looking at the cells of the body and how they change and how they loose the ‘act of balance’ to work; the figure in the slide piece is looking at him-self, in a state of change, at him-self as a ‘single’ cell undergoing the complex cellular changes in ageing that were brought to my attention while visiting the Centre for Ageing in Newcastle. The work is art, a loose interpretation of the biochemistry though and does not stick strictly to the science it acts as a metaphor for the complex processes at play.
The slide sequence is based around an image of a male figure projected onto two sets of screens which outlines the ten or so processes that eventually lead to the demise of the cell in ageing. The figure though male is meant to stand in for ‘any’ person. The outline of the body becomes the membrane of the cell and sometimes the figure depicted on one screen set is seen watching the ageing process, in his own cells, depicted on the other screen.
The work has been influenced by the extraordinary audacity of life and living and how it is such a complex balancing act. So much can go wrong in our bodies that it is remarkable that we stay alive. When problems occur the body has fascinating systems in the cell that correct the countless mistakes that transpire. In a sense the body is continually at war with itself. It is an ongoing battle, damage being done and repairs being made all the time.
Shown at:-
1. Great North Museum, Newcastle. In the exhibition Coming of Age: the art and science of ageing
My part Funded £12,000.00 from the Wellcome Trust
£10,000.00 from the Arts Council UK
Inspired by Newcastle University’s Changing Age campaign, which seeks to challenge the negative perceptions about older people in society, Coming of Age uses art to explore how and why we age, the effects of ageing and the lives of older people through the eyes of both artists and scientists.The exhibition was built around three themes of biology, frailty and vitality.
Artists included works by Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Henry Moore, Nicholas Nixon, John Coplans, Melanie Manchot, Carla Bromhead, Susie Rea, Valerie Laws, Susan Aldworth, Linda Kosciewicz-Fleming, Jordan Baseman and Sharon Bailey, and new commissions by Annie Cattrell, Andrew Carnie and Jennie Pedley.
Curator Lucy Jenkins
Catalogue produced Coming of Age. Published by Newcastle University website and podcast also produced.
2. The work Fray; Coming Away at the Ends
will be shown at Gv Art in May 2012.
It will take place with a large public engagement program including a talk at the RA by Prof Tom Kirkwood. With a further grant for Wellcome funded for £25,000.00
Curator Lucy Jenkins