Keeping It Going

Yesterday was day 17 of ‘Connected’ an online project I created as a way of reaching out and staying in touch with those around me during the April lockdown. As someone who’s interested in objects as indicators of the passing of time, these brooches (particularly the larger of the two) hold strong memories of the places in which I acquired them and mark the number of years that have passed since I came to own them.

The larger one’s been kept for over 30 years and bears the marks of wear and tear. It’s a beautifully crafted piece of vintage jewellery and was given to me as a gift by Trish, the manager of a retro clothing store who I worked for in the late 1980s in upstate New York. My subsequent friendship with Trish and my love of ballet means that, in spite of not having worn it for some years now, I’ve held onto this exquisite brooch. It became something more cherished and precious following Trish’s untimely death a few years after I returned to the UK.

The smaller one is something I picked up from Greenwich market probably about 20 years ago, from a stall where a woman specialised in selling things from the 50s/60s era. She would often sell multiples of things and I recall the labels on the pieces of card the ballerina (and a small deer) were mounted on being stamped with ‘Made in Hong Kong.’ I also remember the ballerina brooch being one of many on the day I bought it – certainly not unique! It’s kept in good shape, despite it being of far inferior quality compared to the one given to me by Trish – cheaply manufactured and mass-produced by the same company who made the small deer brooch that I posted on day 2. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s sweet and reminiscent of my childhood when cheap jewellery was freely available and accessible to all – pocket money trinkets.

I’m now half way through ‘Connected’ and have enjoyed the process of pairing up the various objects I’ve gathered together – similar, but fitting together perfectly as a unit, through their difference. The daily process of sorting, finding and posting images of paired up objects on social media has provided me with a structure in an otherwise upside down world. But it’s gone beyond that in the past day or two and I’ve had to stop and take note of the emotional impact some of the objects have had on me, recognising that some are of greater sentimental value than others – of no real monetary value but ultimately, priceless – charged with the emotions associated with them. I wrote a short post about the heightened significance of lockets a couple of days ago – how much more symbolic they became at a point in time when we are universally surrounded by death and mourning. In a similar vein, the brooch Trish gave me took on a different meaning when I learned of her death – and here I am, years later, acknowledging that. Objects really do have the power to be the containers of strong emotion, it seems.

There’s been a nice positive response to ‘Connected’ online; images of small attractive objects are a welcome distraction from the real horror surrounding us, I imagine. But their appeal I think, also lays in the fact that so many of these objects resonate and evoke powerful, nostalgic memories. If ever there was a time for looking back with affection and sentimental longing for the past, it is now.

locket:  a small ornamental case, typically made of gold or silver, worn round a person’s neck on a chain and used to hold things of sentimental value, such as a photograph

As I posted the image of a pair of lockets for my online ‘Connected’ project recently, I was struck by how significant this particular piece of jewellery is. And of course, how ever more pertinent the sentiments around a locket have become in the current climate, one in which death and mourning have entered our lives on such an extraordinary, unprecedented and universal scale.

A locket is probably the most intimate item of jewellery – the ultimate keepsake when it comes to keeping loved and cherished ones close – quite literally – to ones’ heart. The preservation of a photo or a lock of hair encapsulates memories of loved ones on the deepest possible level and in April 2020, as we steer our way through this global pandemic lockdown, keeping loved ones close has taken on an unparalleled significance.

I’ve always been interested in objects as clear indicators of the passage of time. Themes of loss and remembrance reflect my ongoing fascination with the permanence of objects versus the fragility of life; the lockets, in this respect, have take on an even greater significance.

‘Connected’ is now at its half way point. I will continue to post images throughout the month of April as a reminder, as I said in my last post here: ‘ … of the importance of the virtues of love and compassion, reaching out, looking out for each other – and crucially, staying connected.’ 

I hope that we can.

Connected

‘the state of being joined or linked; a feeling of belonging to or having affinity with a particular person or group.’

Every day in the month of April, I’m going to focus on finding objects which are similar but different. To start the ball rolling, today April 1st 2020, I’m posting an image of two objects – a pair of small plastic ballerinas, parted from their music boxes but united in their similarities. Tomorrow, I will post an image of just one object and continue to do so on alternate days; on the days in between, I’ll be placing a similar (but different) object next to the original one.

Over 30 days, as the objects are connected/twinned with each other, I’ll post the images on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/katemurdochartist/

https://twitter.com/katemurdochart/

Reuniting 30 small objects in this way is a tribute to my twin sons who like so many of us across the entire world right now, are in lock down in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s a reminder of the importance of the virtues of love and compassion, reaching out, looking out for each other and crucially, staying connected – especially with those who are alone, in such unprecedented times. Take care and stay connected, everyone!

Objectify: degrade to the status of a mere object: a deeply sexist attitude that objectifies women

When I was invited to create a piece of work for a group show exploring issues around identity and expressions of the inner self, I thought about my own identity – the life experiences that define me. Growing up in the 1960s as a female child in a working class environment inevitably had an impact. I can’t tell you how many times I was told by my uncles and other male relatives visiting our home that I’d ‘make someone a lovely wife one day ‘ – and that was usually in response to carrying out some domestic task – making tea, handing out sandwiches, for example. As if that was all I would aspire to: keeping the menfolk happy.

Keeping yourself pretty, only speaking when spoken to, pleasing people (boys and men, especially) was what so much of life was about for girls and young women in that era. It reflects my own experience of growing up. But it was the way things were and it was rarely questioned. Young girls and women weren’t encouraged to think much further beyond finding a man and settling down to a lifetime of domestic bliss – the toys we were given paid testament to that.

But things do change, thank goodness; toy irons, complete with ironing board, play ovens and other homemaker paraphernalia are no longer at the top of young girls’ present lists and girls of today are likely to tell you so themselves.

In spite of progress, however, there is still a way to go, and on International Women’s Day, 2020 it feels important to acknowledge that. My work ‘Objectification’ is a tribute to all the girls and young women who for a whole host of reasons, find themselves restrained and controlled by external factors, both subtle and extreme – from Disney princesses to Bic pastel-coloured pens ‘for her’ to gaslighting and extreme violence. Keeping up the prettiness and niceness means in turn, keeping up the fantasy that women are the weaker sex – commodities, to be seen but not heard. It struck me that every single woman who stood up against former film producer and recently convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein stated how they had felt silenced, discouraged from speaking up and how they had felt too embarrassed or ashamed to do so.

Keeping women down, repressed and subdued has always been achieved by silencing them. Without a voice that is heard, we are powerless; what women need is to continue to search for and find a voice that has the freedom to express itself authentically, without having to keep it ‘nice’ – a voice that dares rage against the injustices and inequalities so often imposed on them and a voice that screams and calls out the way in which women are silenced everyday in every corner of the world.

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‘Objectification’ is currently on show as part of the ‘Me, Myself and I’ group exhibition at the Collyer Bristow Galley, London. Curated by Rosalind Davis, the exhibition includes work by twenty artists investigating issues around identity and expressions of the inner self.

smell: odour, scent, whiff, aroma, fragrance, perfume, bouquet

After posting images of some new work on social media recently, I had a couple of responses from fellow artists around the subject of smell.

‘I can smell them from here’ was a comment from artist Elena Thomas in response to me posting an image of used powder puffs a few weeks back. And artist Marilyn Kyle responded to ‘a pink and beige’ image I posted on Facebook this week with: ‘I can almost smell the moth balls and lavender.’ It’s always nice when people take the time to respond – not only does it help me feel connected, it also makes me mindful of the universal appeal of objects and the numerous facets associated with them.

Powerful, evocative smells come to mind frequently for me, particularly when I’m working with objects that focus on my late grandmother. ‘Nana’s Colours’ especially conjures up the many varied sorts of smell, of baking and cooking, of pomanders, bowls of pot pourri, scent bottles, powder puffs and compacts – redolent both of a woman’s domestic and her more intimate, personal life.

I spend a lot of my time sorting and sifting through boxes and suitcases as part of the process of making work – seeking out those small, specific ‘just right’ things that somehow complete a piece with a final, finishing touch. My collections have become more and more organised over the years – the boxes pretty much all labelled now, and so there aren’t as many surprises as there once were. Sometimes, though, in the sorting process, I can still be surprised – just as I was this week when I was having a final rummage to find things associated with female identity. I opened a box in which the top to a bottle of perfume had come loose and the perfume had leaked out. The scent was strong and pungent – a generic, floral kind of smell that transported me right back to my childhood – to moments spent with my Nana, when as a special treat, I was allowed to sit at her dressing table and play with the things on it: face creams, powder puffs, beige-coloured powder, perfume bottles and lipsticks, each with their own unique, haunting fragrance.

Scent is transportive and the perfumes associated with various chapters of our lives, often memorable. Scientific studies have proven an intimate connection between scents and our emotions and memory. It’s why memories triggered by smell as opposed to other senses are ‘experienced as more emotional and more evocative’ (Rachel Herz, assistant professor of psychiatry & human behaviour at Brown University, Rhode Island). Herz also remarks on the fact that: ‘a familiar but long-forgotten scent can even bring people to tears.’

I’ll soon be installing a piece of work in response to the theme of identity and the inner world. It’s a large, ambitious install with a substantial bulk of pre-owned furniture and materials being used. Many evocative objects will make their way into the installation, some of them being items that were rescued from the house in which my Nana lived for some 70+ years. I won’t be using scents as such, but many of the objects on display will undoubtedly be impregnated with odours from the past – steeped with the smells of age, imbued with a strong sense of a history and use. I’m very much hoping to have further conversations around the memories they might evoke in others.

If you’re in London and get a chance to visit the Collyer Bristow Gallery, do come along to see ‘Me, Myself and I’ a group show involving the work of twenty contemporary artists. Further details in the press release here:

https://mailchi.mp/13761e44ad4f/me-myself-and-i-preview-27-february-at-collyer-bristow-gallery-6299943

Please note that the gallery is open Monday to Friday during office hours, with viewings by appointment. Please contact: [email protected]/ 020 7242 7363