Saturday, 5 August 2017

Loss Ritual - Handshake 3: Reflect, Dowse Art Museum

Loss Ritual








Kathryn Yeats
Kathryn Yeats is interested in rituals of loss, which often include the use of jewellery. For this installation, she has created a grieving ritual that stems from her own experience of miscarriage, a form of loss which is seldom acknowledged in the public realm.
The items on the shelf are made by Yeats to reflect a mother’s understanding of her baby both before it is born and after the very difficult experience of having a miscarriage. Her objects also refer to the idea of constructed personhood—considering a person based on their relationships rather than physical presence.  She says, “pregnancy loss is like grieving a person because of the connections between family members which exist before birth.”
To extend the idea of dealing with personal loss, Yeats invites anyone to sit with her installation, view the instructions on the small screen in the coffee table and make a finger knitted wreath.  In doing so, the artist provides us with a quiet space, where we can use the process of making to contemplate loss, or remember a lost loved one. At the end of the process, you are welcome to leave your wreath behind in a gesture of support, or take it with you as a memento.

Reflect Exhibition Text by Sian van Dyk

Sunday, 5 March 2017

Intimate Moments - It Will All Come Out In The Wash, Handshake and Dialogue Collective, Munich Jewellery Week, 2017

Intimate Moments






Working with Dialogue Collective has been a great experience.  Playful, experimental and social.

Interactions between the groups have traveled back and forth across the world, ending with a concept focused on the idea of laundry lines strung between buildings connecting neighbours.

The notion of laundry led me to an exploration of private worlds, underwear hanging outdoors, private items in the public sphere.  Public and private spaces, peering into peoples intimate spaces.  Our collective fascinations with other people’s lives.


Thursday, 2 March 2017

Residual Traces - Handshake at Munich Jewellery Week 2017

Residual Traces


 



Objects and the traces left behind them.
I) Construct – Chalk line mapping out constructions.  Transient markings turned into structures.
II) Shelter – Channels directing rain, leaving the impression of protection.
III) Collapse – Returning to the beginning after a life, materials shedding and collapsing back into the surroundings.






Sunday, 1 January 2017

Structures

Structures
 Old, new, black, white, red, large, small, open, closed, hard, soft.