Seecum WHWD

My Myopia

'My Myopia' is a series of sculptures, assembled from collected items from the sides of the streets, to detritus from the sea and shop bought items such as lights and wire. The sculptures at first appear as a small island of objects, charged with coloured light and wrapped in both deceased natural and synthetic substances. A combination of clutter and order, it is a tenuous balance of duality which is incapable of enveloping the one statement.

A neon toucan sits atop a raw wooden plank with palm and banana leaves resting atop, alongside animal skins, rigging slings, plastics and a bright pink neon tube light. These objects are bound to the plank by a series of synthetic coloured wires and strings, positioned precariously but with a sense of logic. The sculpture floats in the space, highlighted by neon lights which set the sculptures aglow but masks the clarity of the objects. The viewer has to come closer in order to understand what the objects are. Upon the easels are cascading reams of hair, woven broken pieces of glass and a large bulb with the words ‘Aye’ painted onto the bottom, suspended within a woven plastic macramé basket.

'My Myopia' signifies our inability to look beyond our present contemporary society of consumer goods, objects and concepts. It brings an uneasy meditative pause - by transforming the space with light it invites you to focus on these floating islands of clutter. The objects lend themselves to significance and insignificance but the work asks no more from the viewer, other than to share it’s space of meditative apathy.

I’ve been trying to find ways to weave a political discourse into the fragments of these installations. I have created these environments which set the stage for a potential voice, but I’m still in a place where I’m trying to bring focus to a subtle or strong statement which will activate these objects. I’m currently creating double printed advertising posters with hidden messages and small video clips or interviews to add into the installation.

Club Autonomie

A series of double sided printed posters, with statements that reflect the anarchist movements of the 1890’s when Martial Bourdin made his name as the first international terrorist. When a bomb blew up in his hand near the Greenwich meantime observatory in 1894, the only thing that could be found on him was a calling card for the infamous ‘Club Autonomie’ - the central meeting point for the international anarchists in London. Soon after the explosion, the club was raided and the members interrogated leading to the final closure of the club a few months later. The works are an accumulation of double sided posters which signify lost messages that come to view and disappear dependent on whether they’re held up to light. Variable clock pieces are assembled in a form of order, pebbled with shards of metallic coated glass and brass.

The installation consists mainly of posters which are in black and white, with one side featuring photographs of buildings and factories and the other - illustrations of targets and anarchist statements such as ‘Abort Labour’. These posters are suspended in the space via broom handles and string, and others are attached to the windows. Small spotlights strung up with black cable, fall behind the posters offering some light to see both sides at once. Upon the floor, rests a series of folded posters, broken glass and clock assemblages which construct a form of clock like orientation. One ‘Club Autonomie’ business card is strewn across the floor, the only indicator of it’s anarchist beginnings.

Terrorism in our contemporary times is now predominantly associated with the war upon IS and the middle East. We no longer have anarchism as a frontal feature or topic of debate, critiques upon the market and the capital are given less import ace and less publicity in news of today. This installation is an attempt to see where these voices can still occur, and maybe to understand the futility in making such statements. The posters are designed to appear and disappear and due to their quiet nature they can go unnoticed. What can words do these days, and how do we operate? Are we silenced.

I would like to make the piece more of a tangled fragmentation of present day anarchism and that of the past during the Club Autonomie days. What were the concerns and how has the argument contemporised? I would like to build upon these posters and make into a working office, that sits between that of an anarchists den and a branding office or advertisement agency. I would like for these posters to become more ‘Pop’ but loaded with sharp powerful statements behind it. Just need to find the words!