Just before Christmas I attempted to combine all of these thoughts mentioned in the last post, within an artwork about personal heritage and ‘bloodlines’. It was actually more of an experiment with how objects can be displayed within a space, but at the same time was also a chance for me to communicate a very personal, autobiographical narrative. The artwork represents my family and where I come from. I wanted to create a piece that started from the beginning- my biological make-up so to speak. The maternal and paternal sides of my family are very dissimilar in their heritage. My father comes from a farming background, he is one of seven and my grandfather at one stage worked the land solely with the use of horsepower. In contrast to this, my grandmother, on my mother’s side comes from a more sophisticated family that had staff within their London household when she was a child. I am proud of this divergent personal history- I am proud that two very different, opposing social classes are combined within my blood. I am the person I am due to this historical social juxtaposition.
I thought long and hard about the objects I wanted to use to represent these two contrasting aspects of my family. The easy decision was the tree, I know it is a very literal representation but I needed an obvious, easily understandable foundation from which the objects could be better appreciated and interpreted. Due to the fact that the tree is a widely recognised symbolic representation of a family structure, the objects had a better chance of being understood within this context. It all reverts back to this issue of association- (something that arises frequently within my work).
Anyway, in attempt to try to communicate what I wanted from this piece, I needed two differing types of objects that would be fairly equal in size and weight (for I did not want the material to differ to such an extent that it would be unbalanced in anyway). The items needed to be appreciated not only for their visual qualities but their underlying, semiotic values too. The viewer should be able to look further into what is being displayed- they should be able to grasp a more complex story from the otherwise simplistic array of objects. Having said this, the visuals are also important to me- I wanted something that would be delicate but strong, catch the light and look aesthetically interesting when hanging from the white branches. Cornelia Parker and her installations are a great inspiration to me– although we are discouraged from thinking about an installation’s aesthetics alone, I can’t help but be drawn to the visual qualities of Parker’s work, (along with many other aspects of it too). She marries together a unique, complex artistic strategy with a beauty and visual intensity, which results in an overall thought-provoking yet simple artwork. I could only hope to strive towards such a flawless fusion within my own work.
So after a great deal of consideration, I made the decision to use a collection of silver plated cutlery and original, antique horse brasses. They seemed, to me, completely apt in their portrayal of class and history, but also seemed to resonate with me for personal reasons too. The very idea of silver service brings to mind the upper hierarchy of British culture; the grand dinner parties, the wealth and the exclusive traditions. And then there is the aesthetic elegance of each individual knife or beautifully ornate fork. This is only highlighted further when it’s visually compared to the sturdy, more crude horse brasses. The brasses symbolise the hard, physical labour of the working, classes and farming culture. They are unsophisticated, roughly made, yet decorative pieces of metal that once embellished the harnesses of heavy horses that worked the land so many years ago. Both types of objects hanging within the context of the artwork represent two very different aspects of British history, but through combining them within this framework, they become reflective of me and where I come from- my own personal story.
I have not settled on a title for this piece yet. One part of my process which I need to take my time on is thinking about the right titles to use. Sometimes they are really clever and hit the nail on the head and really add another dimension to the work, but in order for them to do so – I need to think about them carefully for a while.
