'Oppression' Exhibition 2016, Artist Statement. I am.

I am

'I am' is an abstract fusion of conceptual installation and performance art. The piece explores and examines what it is to be young and mentally ill; inspired by the literary material produced by young people whom I helped to support while volunteering with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. Within this piece, the stark yet delicate paradox between chaos and order is additionally explored through the live installation, as well as the conceptual framework surrounding the disjunction of emotion from the self. Every aspect of the piece, from the objects used to the clothes worn, the languages spoken and the way the wool is spun, is symbolic of the message carried through, although individual interpretation and projection is absolutely vital to fulfilling the execution of the piece. The decision was made to attach two transparent jars to my wrists using string, each filled separately with water and salt, both of which are attached in turn to the floor by gravity. The superficial and very distant attachment of these elements to the body aims to physically embody emotional disjunction and a disjointed recall of internal division, as well as a strange sense of attachment. In addition, the choice to use wool at the binding material between the flesh and the glass jars carries significant resonance; the spiritual meaning of wool denotes truth from celestial origin which in itself is good. In correspondence with this spiritual meaning, the way in which the wool is so loosely spun awards it a fragile quality; easily detached, which serves to reinforce the literary material.  The languages spoken possibly hold the most significance in this piece, for  the variety of the languages included aims to illustrate a universality the piece, with no specific identity attached to the performer; I as the artist and ultimately the performer stands as a plural, not only as the personal body. Upon saying this, it is integral to this piece that the performance remains as abstract and ambivalent as possible; clarity is not necessary to be sought. The very process of the audience observing this piece is part of the performance itself; serving as the passive onlooker, yet the enagaged eye.