- Venue
- ArtSpace Dudley
- Starts
- Friday, July 3, 2015
- Ends
- Saturday, August 1, 2015
- Address
- 4 Birdcage Walk, Dudley DY2 7AE
- Location
- West Midlands
- Organiser
- Elena Thomas
PRESS RELEASE
NINE WOMEN
ELENA THOMAS
Funded by Arts Council England, Nine Women is an installation project by artist Elena Thomas, which takes the concept of the nine classical muses into the contemporary art forum.
Thomas explores the trials, tribulations and characteristics of the women, expressing through the embellishment of old, derelict bras the invisibility of women at certain times in their lives.
In between these nine tattered garments Thomas weaves the women’s stories; singing for each a haunting song of love, motherhood, loss, lust, selflessness, and violence. Self esteem, the lack of it, and the rediscovery of it are threaded throughout the audio and the visual, overlapping and affecting each other, as in common experience.
Thomas’ songs hook into the minds of the viewers, to be taken and hummed away from the gallery long after the end of the show. Her songs range in style from simple jazz through to country, but often the genre is hard to pin down, their construction being led by the story and the character, rather than the style.
The embellishment of the previously discarded underwear (clothing bank rejects) hints at distress, celebration, depression, joy and pain… The combination of object and song becomes a powerful statement of the nature of womanhood as seen through Thomas’ eyes. They hang in the gallery space, as if worn by the invisible women, allowing the viewer to walk amongst them, affecting their movement.
Garments by Elena Thomas
All lyrics are written by Elena Thomas
Music by Elena Thomas with Chris Cleverley, Simon Coverdale, Nicki Kelly, Dave Sutherland and Dan Whitehouse.
Production by Dan Whitehouse and Elena Thomas
Completed installation preview event will be at ArtSpace Dudley, 4, Birdcage Walk, Dudley DY2 7AE on Friday 3rd July 6:00 – 9:00pm and will include live performances.
Some elements of the collection will be shown in Jamestown, NY during March, And ArtMobile, Stockholm, Sweden in April.
Other UK venues to be announced during the year.
www.elenathomas.co.uk
