|
Anna Jackson
Installation, varied media.
For AUT Bachelor of Visual Arts Graduating Exhibition,
November 2002.
TEXT ONE
Litany provides commentary on the accumulation
of experience and binds, with fragility, the
two selves of the artist; that of her genesis
and that of her destination. It is an act that
tends to confirm that our illusions and terrors
never change; that every day is but a perpetuation
of the disasters of infancy.
Evoking the psychic equivalents of mending
and repairing, the method suggests a sense of
obsessive nurturing, never quite separating
the impulses of tenderness from anxiety. Each
stitch a tribute to a particular reminiscence.
They elucidate a lament that is simultaneously
universal and private. Overtly loving, yet inadequate:
a gesture ultimately flawed.
Objects, iconic of redemption, examine the
relationship of the self to itself, and demonstrate
the paradox of the self as both a protector
and the protected. Equivalent to the physical
weight of the artist, the objects represent
an attempt to protect the self through the means
of the self. It is as though:
"As soon as there is one there is murder.
Wounding, traumatism. The one guards against
the other, it protects itself from the other.
But in the movement of this jealous violence
it compromises in itself its self-otherness
or self-difference, the difference from within
oneself which makes it one. The one forgets
to remember itself to itself. It keeps and erases
the archive of this injustice that it is, of
this violence that it does. The one makes itself
violence, it violates and does violence. It
becomes what it is, the very violence that it
does to itself. The determination of the self
as one is violence."
Violence, noted on one hand as a disposition
of the psyche, also has an overt physical presence
in the architectural disguise of the sandbagged
entrances. Defining an area reminiscent of the
sanctuary of private spaces, the entrenched
objects become dense signifiers as they morph
into barricades of combat and natural disaster.
TEXT TWO
Dearest Diary,
Mitzi is having an operation today. Mum says
that they use a needle to sew up his tummy but
I think it is probably more like a machine.
He is going to get a scar. Scars are cool. I
will get one soon.
Dear Diary,
It is going to be my birthday in one month today.
I have made a new calendar. I can cross off
everyday until then but I am not allowed to
have a party.
Dear Diary,
Sorry I haven’t written in so long. I
have been very busy. In Mrs. Smiths class we
are writing stories. Mine is five pages long.
I think that it is the best in the class.
To my dear Diary,
Mitzi died today. Dad wrapped him up in a blanket
and buried him under the tree with Rabbits.
We are going to make a cross tomorrow.
Diary,
We had robbers yesterday. They took my Kitty
and Kaboodle. I hope that they don’t come
back. I snuck into Mum and Dad's bed last night
but I have to stay in mine tonight. I piled
up my soft toys around my bed so if they come
they wont be able to get me.
Dear Diary,
It is going to be my birthday in 364 days. Mum
said its rude to count all of the days because
its only because of the presents.
Dear Diary,
I stole some cigarettes today and smoked them
under the house. I scrubbed my teeth and I rubbed
lavender on my fingers so that no one could
tell.
Dear Diary,
I got busted stealing the lavender from Mrs.
Hickeys house. She is such an old cow. I don’t
think that she knew why I wanted it. I am going
to get my butt kicked if she finds out.
back
to the top
|
)
)
)
)
)