Cataloguing absence - 2021
2022 Libris Awards - April-June 2022 - Mackay Artspace
Images: Michael Marzik
Libris Awards 2022 Artspace Mackay’s biennial event brings together works by leading and emerging artists’ book makers from across the country. The awards are a chance to celebrate the art form and build on the gallery’s significant artist book collection from amongst the final 58 entries. Judges for the 2022 awards are Adele Otteridge and Brian Robinson.
View the 2022 Awards Catalogue of Finalists.
Cataloguing absence (found object, Coptic binding, mixed media, machine & hand stitching)
Absence is different from non-existence. Absence allows that that a person still exists but is not currently present. Absence gives rise to an awareness that we are in a state of being “without”.
Recently, my sister found items she had kept that had belonged to our mother. Among the assorted collection was this salmon-coloured “Pandora” box and our mother’s old hand-turning Singer sewing machine. In my commitment to remembering and understanding our loss, I used both objects – mending, stitching, assembling, filling, stuffing – as the basis for this work.
Although our special objects are linked with personal history, their status as keepsakes create questions regarding social recollection and archiving practices. Objects can remind us of another time and place, the fullness of their presence reminds us of what is missing. We activate them with memory and meaning and, in return, they become our memory-keepers – our catalogues of absence.
View the 2022 Awards Catalogue of Finalists.
Cataloguing absence (found object, Coptic binding, mixed media, machine & hand stitching)
Absence is different from non-existence. Absence allows that that a person still exists but is not currently present. Absence gives rise to an awareness that we are in a state of being “without”.
Recently, my sister found items she had kept that had belonged to our mother. Among the assorted collection was this salmon-coloured “Pandora” box and our mother’s old hand-turning Singer sewing machine. In my commitment to remembering and understanding our loss, I used both objects – mending, stitching, assembling, filling, stuffing – as the basis for this work.
Although our special objects are linked with personal history, their status as keepsakes create questions regarding social recollection and archiving practices. Objects can remind us of another time and place, the fullness of their presence reminds us of what is missing. We activate them with memory and meaning and, in return, they become our memory-keepers – our catalogues of absence.