art

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

olivia

Labyrinth

Much of my art has been inspired by travel and literature. My degree show “LABYRINTH” was a huge labyrinth made of latex panels which the viewer could walk through and interact with. At the centre of the labyrinth the viewer is confronted by a sealed chamber covered in mirrors so instead of a mystery, the viewer confronts the self. The idea of secret and sealed chambers has always fascinated me and I blame it on a love of ancient Egypt which I have had since school days. Now I have been to Egypt and seen the Nile temples and been inside a pyramid, the fascination is even more enhanced. Those who have read “The Catacomb Ghosts” will see a connection.

Another installation of mine “DORMANT”was directly connected to the fact that I taught “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley which was on the A level literature syllabus. For this exhibition I made a series of plaster heads which were then covered in beeswax and placed in boxes that I had made in my studio. These heads were placed on temporary beds, with institutional looking blankets and the whole set up looked like a hospital ward or a dormitory I then photographed the plaster heads and had them printed at A0 size, some in negative and some in positive, to hang opposite the beds. The title of this exhibition refers to the scene in Frankenstein when the monster is brought to life after lying dormant in Frankenstein’s laboratory.

I am currently working on a series of very large collaged and painted boards (4’ X 4’) with images taken from my father’s home movies shot in the 1950s and 1960s. These take a moving image and freeze the frames that make up a movement (perhaps a smile or a gesture). These freeze frames are then collaged onto the boards and worked into with paint ink etc. This series of work, because many of the images are of members of my family many no longer living, has become a series of historical portraits of