meaningofmaterials

The decisions around the choice of materials have been really important - the use of utility papers and materials that are usually used within a hidden context, for example within the lining of clothes, has supported the thinking behind my making. The tracing, glassine and baking papers have a quality that hides or 'knocks back' the papers that are behind it, creating its own sense of the hidden but when folded reveal and in fact present the fold by showing the layers of the materiel used. The moment I realised that I had to work with these materials - that this had-to-be - came from seeing an example of shadow ribbon at the Costume and Textile collection in Norwich – found within the ‘fabric manipulation handling box. 
The blackness of the interface material and dark glassine has come to represent the opposite and I feel presents a deadening atmosphere (referencing my thoughts and connections to the long dead owners and users of the materials and objects I’ve been looking at and working with).

narrativechangingunderstanding

A thought - is it possible to physically change an object just by thinking about it.
Every object in each collection I'm looking at has many stories; each one delivers the viewer new contexts and presents new possible functions. Functionality of an object is something that is constructed in the mind through collective use and understanding. As the functionality of an object can change in the mind, changing our perception of and relationship to the object. Does this in some way physically change the object? 
This connects to ideas around transubstantiation, the act of partaking in consuming the body and blood of Christ through eating a wafer and drinking wine. Also the piece of work by Michael Craig Martin titled Oak Tree which consists of a glass of water on a glass shelf and a text debating the idea of faith, symbolism and trust. Just checked this out and nice to see that Nicholas Serota also made the link – ‘it certainly reminds us that the appreciation of all art involves an act of faith comparable to the belief that, through transubstantiation, the bread and wine of Holy Communion become the body and blood of Christ’