Anastasia WWH

Work 1:

Within a brightly lit, white walled room – with Georgian features (fire place, wide windows of old glass) a duo show, 'Dividual Production' is installed. The floor is a dark wood parquet, the space is domestic or pub-like. Small sculptural works are installed on walls and larger pieces are free-standing. A ‘london plane tree’ holds onto its summer colour outside the window.

Two black yoga mats extend on a diagonal into the centre of the room, where a screen displays projected video, mechanic-support whirrs and a pair of headphones, lie flat on each respective mat. The video shows tools which quantify in various public, private and domestic locations: a thermostat dial is turned through icons indicating temperature, a BMI & blood pressure report is printed, a parking ticket collected and an answer phone re-plays. Shots are separated by a monochrome graphic: (***) which occasionally overlays the non-linear narrative of the footage. A sign in a lift indicates the observation of patients privacy and clipped conversation is pursued throughout.

Created in parallel to sociological research, the video footage was collected over a few months and edited simply. Yoga mats were borrowed from gym where I was teaching Yoga twice a week and the screen (also borrowed) easily rolled up or down – designed for temporary use and transit.

Kyle Galloway and I paired up for this duo show because we both had sculptural practices which were influenced by our ‘day jobs’ in London. Kyle as a plasterer and I as a yoga teacher. We also shared research interests in the ‘sense of self’ and society. I wanted to reflect the conditions the work exists within whilst creating a catalyst for conversation around agency, societal control and industries of wellbeing.

Work 2:

Hanging from the rafters of a victorian industrial looking building there is a piece of thick wooden dowl with clear plastic vinyl draped over it. Held by thick black cotton twill –which is looped over the edges of the dowl and tied to the rafter above. The clear vinyl is roughly rectangular and has a sewn outline – black bias binding follows curved corners at the bottom and a dripping/mountain range edge at the back – this edge is roughly at eye-level. The vinyl is double layered at points, which creates pockets – also partly outlined, so objects within these pockets are suspended at various points and are visible from all sides. A condom, with green bamboo print on one side is held by the traction of two layers of vinyl. One section holds an elaborately entwined bamboo plait – its roots visible and held within a pocket of water. Another pocket holds a white container with a decorated label that reads ‘MACA LIFT ™ ENERGY, PERFORMANCE, STAMINA’ this packaging describes its contents as capsules of a ground root used for…