Lorna Simpson

TEXT PANEL:
It is late, decided to have a quick nightcap at the hotel having checked in earlier that morning. Hotel security is curious and knocks on the door to inquire as to what's going on, given our surroundings we suspect that maybe we have broken "the too many dark people in the room code." More privacy is attained depending on what floor you are on, if you are in the penthouse suite you could be pretty much assured of your privacy, if you were on the 6th or 10th floor there would be a knock on the door.


This photograph series entitled "The bed" again uses this idea of an absent person, however this time the bed looks untouched and as though it has not been slept in. I also like the text panel underneath which Lorna Simpson uses quite often in her photographs to link a narrative to an image.

I took these pictures after being inspired by the work below. each time I woke up I took a picture of my empty bed as I had left it. I really like the different creases and shapes in the material that show that someone was present but no longer is.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres: The absent body

I really like this photograph by felix gonzalez -torres that was enlarged and put onto a billboard. The bed is empty but still holds the shape of two bodies lying side by side, which stands to emphasise the fact that they are no longer present or together. The inspiration for this photograph came about when the artist's partner died of aids, and I think the impact of the absence of any figure or presence is very strong and moving.

I'm starting to move more into this idea about "absence" and the idea that what is not shown in images is just as important as what is. The feeling that something or someone was present but no longer is. This makes me think back to when I was experimenting with my first blanket pieces and tried to use a female figure in my work to be wrapped in the blanket reading "He turned to me and said: 'you are worthless'", and I found that it was more effective when there was no figure at all, which is what I ended up producing. Also my pillow piece with the text represented this same absence. I like the use of a bed as well, something comforting and personal becoming a lonely and threatening image.


I am also very interested in this work because it is about making something very personal and private become public, which is what I was working on with my blanket pieces in the church that came from private letters and feelings shared by others.

I am going to focus on this idea of "absence" and research into other ways of showing this in my work.

Arab Strap

"On the English Riviera with the penguins and the waders.
In a chip shop on the front with the tacky seaside traders.
In a flooded cottage kitchen by the fire that you built.
In a B & B in Peebles, underneath a rented kilt.
In Barnardo's, Cancer Research, in Shelter and Oxfam.
In a quiet pub in Skipton, on a rusty Blackpool tram.
The Pleasure Beach and Coral Island, at the end of the North Pier.
On the moors with the wild ponies and the sheep shit and the deer.

In a corner of the Sub Club.
On the Art School's old dance floor.
In the hall and in the bath, just outside the downstairs door.
On a hillside in the Trossachs,
on the busy NY streets, in a hotel by a park, it's written in the sheets.

In the sand at Ilfracombe,
halfway up the A82,
the tallest cinema in Europe,
standing sighing in the queue.
The all-night garages of Glasgow,
the freezing streets of Aberdeen,
in every corner, every room and every bed we've ever been.

That's where we've left our love"

Overall I am really pleased with my finished work. I really enjoyed creating the textile pieces and think this is something I will want to continue to produce over summer. I also have become really interested in the use of text through this project and also through this creating a narrative for the viewer. The contrast and juxtaposition of the text and the colourful fabric is something which I always enjoy in my work and I will continue to work on creating this clash of elements to create an initial awkward and uneasy feeling with the viewer.

Exhibition opening

My Artist Statement:

“To remember other people’s memories is to be wounded by their wounds. More precisely, it is to let their struggles, their passions, their pasts resonate within one’s own past and present, and destabilize them” - Kaja Silverman

My work is based on the memories and confessions of others. The text is taken from letters received daily by the “Juliet Club” a group of agony aunts in Verona, Italy the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The club reply to thousands of letters and emails from people seeking help and support, or wanting to share their experiences of love. I was able to access some of these letters and I then used the phrases and short sentences that I felt expressed the most pain and suffering. I wanted to make these anonymous private feelings and secrets into shared memories, for others to relate to in their own way. These type of memories are often hard to recall, and are sometimes repressed, however I aimed to celebrate them instead by displaying them on large material resembling flags with bright colours and patterns, making them hard to ignore. It is important to also remember our own bad experiences as we learn from these experiences and they guide our future behaviour. The process of sewing the text is an important aspect of my work, as it represents the repair of something which has been torn apart, in remembering these bad moments we aim to recover from them and get past them. I wanted to display my work here in St. Brides because in the same way these people have wrote to the Juliet Club for guidance and hope, there are many people who look to religion for this help and forgiveness. I have also made 14 of these flags, referencing the stations of the cross, the suffering that Jesus Christ endured prior to his death.

“ You can erase someone from your mind. Getting them out of your heart is another story”

Putting my work up: