Liminal Times

Work Made in and about Lockdown 2020 

They were indeed ‘unprecedented times’. Terrifying and yet oddly energising. The total transformation of ‘normal life’ did leave space for reflection and seeing things in a new way. 

Works here were made for my Liminal [Space] Belfast project which used the alleys of the city as exhibition spaces while mainstream galleries remained closed. 

‘Bubble Network’ 

Thinking about the delicate networks in foams and gels. Things that are not quite liquid, not quite solid but something in between. Our own ‘household bubble’ and networks came into a  new focus under lockdown rules, close contact tracing and social distancing. 

Digital Print on Textile

‘Grind All You Want It’s Still Spectacuraly Fucked’ 

Work about the massive effort we sometimes go to to preserve a system that is broken or to present the ‘utterly fucked’ as somehow still OK and corrrect. 

Making these pieces used hours of labour and energy. Found glass was transported across the city, shattered with repeated hammer blows, then ground with diamond pads to frost one of the shattered sides. Black paint covered the whole piece which was then rubbed into each crack and groove ‘intaglio’ style with certain cracks picked out in silver leaf.  

Reflecting Some Statistic 

Every day we’re confronted with different stats, charts and figures in the news. ‘Indisputable facts’ laid out as truth but also interpreted in a multiplicity of forms, evidence for every argument for and against it seems. During the pandemic these got a new focus as we daily checked ‘the curve’, the projections, death figures were announced at each news broadcast - everyone seeing something different their own story, their own reaction. 

Mirror installation. 

Handcut found mirror. Each approx 2cm wide, highs vary from 8cm - 60cm.  

Liminal Times 

A sort of lockdown diary with images and text. Made between March and October 2020. It was important to be that it was a newspaper rather than a series of prints or a purely digital collection of images. Partially, as an alternative to the ever present news but also to have a physical object, something solid to hold, crease and fold from these uncertain times. 

‘In these liminal times we observe the borders between one thing and another. Where realites are softened and the edges blur. We spend hours watching the skies.’

‘We never expected to spend so long within these specific coordinates. We spent many hours getting acquainted with the skylines of our temporary castles.’

Broadsheet Newspaper, Digitally Printed.