Contextual Statement
Verity Barrett
My work focuses on ways of observing and recording the body as a landscape. I am interested in creating ambiguous forms that are wrapped, trapped and concealed. I am currently working with elasticated fabrics and sheet latex. These materials allow me to observe shapes of the body through a uniform surface, so that it becomes a series of undulations. I usually produce work on a human scale, proportions will generally relate to my own size. This direct relation to my body means the gestures I use to mark make relate to my dimensions. When I use my hands to draw- rubbing, blending and erasing, these motions and contact with the paper emulate those of bodies behind the stretchers from which I am drawing.
A sense of anonymity is quite important to me, I think this stems from feelings of embarrassment and dislikes about parts of my body. Hidden behind a thin membrane my body becomes an object or shape losing the person to whom it belongs. I am only a presence, a form.
thinking about writing something about adam and eve...but I'm not happy with this-
In the bible, Adam and Eve begin life naked, feeling unashamed of nudity, much like young children, but after falling to temptation of the devil they became ashamed of their naked forms. It is interesting how to be naked is such a private thing for most people, myself included.
watch this space...
