In "gone" the work is arranged
in groupings of objects, selected and positioned to comment on
romance, power, and gender roles. Most of the groupings contain
objects that are remnants of the past so they resonate with memories
and questions about the passage of time.
As a collector I am very interested in the lifespan and the survival
probabilities, of certain objects. I begin by searching and sorting
particular objects from the landscape of ordinary life, separating
them from the visual field of daily experience. I search for potent
objects that project meaning. As I organize the objects in the
studio both visual and emotional themes emerge. I imagine the narrative
that the objects convey and combine the potent objects to reinforce
the idea. I like thinking about the status and meaning of each
object in the present. I ponder what that status and meaning might
have been in its past. The self-conscious collection of memorabilia
becomes a theme in the installation.
The objects in the installation and the juxtaposition of the groupings
resonate with loving and sometimes painful nostalgia. The pieces
can be pointedly critical of, or poke gentle fun at, materialism
and the obsessive nature of collecting. The vignette of possible
narratives makes each part of the installation perform like a still
from a film. The groupings suggest "before and after" but
also carry ambiguities. The viewer is asked to create the possible
characters the objects suggest. The story-telling power of the
objects and the arrangement in the narrative groupings carries
the text and sub-text of the installation.
—Odile Dix |