In 2010 I was invited to contribute to a group exhibition, 31 Days, curated by Emilia Simcox and shown at Gallery Red, Glebe. The brief was to produce a work everyday for the 31 days of March. Here is a retrospective peek at that series.
At the time, the works were created as a daily stream of consciousness; quick assemblages combining found bric-a-brac, a collection of vintage cigarette boxes, scraps of old discarded artworks, fragments of toys and colouring books, old photocopies and crumpled photos, the kind you find as bookmarks in novels never finished.
Each work appears as a dense narrative of my life at the time; moving away from my marriage and moving towards a renewed sense of self. Most of the assemblages are boxed and each is like a chapter of a children’s adventure book. The domestic space is melded with physical and emotional landscapes; there is running, chasing, departure, arrival, returning, holes, boats made from old toe nails sail across a sea of stars or match stick people sail upon ships of bones navigating unknown shores. There is denial; the narrative is repeatedly anchored to an empty horizon, even if it is a low flying plane or a bleeding heart, it’s arteries wrapping itself around a distant line.
The work feels relevant again in the context of the Covid Pandemic; a time of unravelling; questioning; suffering and resilience. We are witnessing adaptation and the growth of a new social order, with the adventure exploits of entitled Billionaires playing out in the background.
– Camilla Lawson
