Installing the textile sculptures in the gallery with Benoit last week was remarkably, almost bizarrely straightforward. As with Raphaella, we have worked together on this process before ( on The Gifts ) so we were in sync and focused. As I don’t often repeat work processes, it’s strange to finally get the fruits of our suffering earlier this year, and to have found many more simpler ways of mapping and preparing the work for hanging.
And this week I haven’t even been needed at the Gallery as the mirrored lettering and vinyl panels etc are all being done by Nicky and her assistant. I saw the lighting guy and we chatted and I will go up on Thursday to see it all completing. It actually opens to the public on Friday at 10am -before the PV- and I want to go early and sit incognito and watch/listen to people’s reactions. I remember for The Gifts enjoying this much more than the experience of the Private View, the night before, which was overwhelming and I was so on the floor with exhaustion from installing non-stop that I could barely keep it together. This one is different and I want to enjoy the easier ride that this installing process has been.
I wondering how it will all land with the groups and whether they will come on Friday – I’m curious to see their reaction and in fact, my own reaction. The sessions seem so far away as the process of creating the work from them has moved quickly through many stages. But it’s only been six weeks since the last session.
I did a phone interview with a local London newspaper today and the reporter asked me what I hope the work would do, in relation to the perception of, for example, the young men from the Paiwand group . I said a lot of things and I wonder if I should say anything at all. It’s all in the work. But I somehow can’t resist responding because I find these human situations and the reflections and relationships that get created from them resonate with me and carry me to places I can’t get if I work in isolation or stay silent. So I keep talking. There is still a lot to say. It’s like the beginning of a conversation and I wonder what the next chapter will be. By the time I write the next entry the work will be public. And then it becomes something else, another piece of work co-created with the public – an unknown and uncontrollable step in its evolution.
