Now the weather has warmed up I seem to be working on numerous projects at the same time trying to catch up. There also seems to be a surge in activity in general following the Easter break. This is all good as it has meant that things have now been (almost) finalised for the exhibition of my work that has resulted from the residency.
Although my actual residency period ended if February I am glad I decided to use the entire period for research rather than trying to make work in response at the same time. I am so glad that I took numerous photos of everything at the time as it has allowed me to go back and revisit and the work I intend to make has changed and developed several times as a result.
I have already written about one body of work in my blog entry ‘Testing Ideas’ written in March when I wrote about the development of a series of flags. Unfortunately, due to issues with fixing the flags in the Chapter House this idea has had to morph into another form and although I will still use the imagery they will be presented differently; more on that another time when I have finalised a few things.
And so my thoughts returned to the research and the feeling that there was still responses as yet unexplored. This coincided with a visit to Amsterdam and the stunning Oude Kerk where there was a brilliant installation by Christian Boltanski
The installation of coats laid in grid form on the floor reminded me of my own work and in particular of Resting Place and my installation of pillowcases. I saw so many crossovers between what Boltanski wrote about the installation, the site of the work and the use of the coats that I spent the flight home deep in thought and searching through photos on my phone.
My thoughts were to create a new installation using pillowcases in the Chapter House at Canterbury Cathedral. My photos of the items I accessed at the cathedral confirmed that this idea would make sense in the context of the centenary of the Armistice and although this blog was supposed to be about the significance I seem to have waffled on about how the idea came to me. Another blog post is needed I think or this will just get too long and complicated. But for now a huge thank you to Christian Boltanski and his work for helping me to unravel my thoughts.
