CERTAIN CHAIRS

MADA Now 2020

The catalyst for Certain Chairs is a memoir of the lives of Barbara and Charles Blackman which uses inanimate objects as the focus for its storytelling. Responding to this book I have taken discarded chairs, altering and transforming them into sculptural pieces thereby interfering with their original structure, purpose, and value. Photographing the altered chairs in domestic environments further disrupts our tacit knowledge of the assumed function of the chairs. Exploiting the human tendency towards anthropomorphism, the denial of the chairs’ original utility liberates a potential for psychological transference. As with the Empty Chair Technique of Gestalt Therapy, the paradox of simultaneous presence and absence offers the viewer an opportunity to develop new understandings as they cultivate their own stories and interpretations.

Acknowledgement of Country

I wish to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the place I call home from whom sovereignty has never been ceded. In particular I recognise Boonwurrung people of the Kulin Nations as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country on which I work and live. I recognise their long standing and continuing connection to Country, waters and community and pay my respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present and emerging. I acknowledge that I have lived my much of my life in ignorance of the rich culture and diversity of the peoples of the First Nations. While I continue to be ignorant of much of the great knowledge, understanding and spirituality of Indigenous peoples, I hope, with respect, to continue to learn and I give thanks for their willingness to help me learn. I wish also to acknowledge the great trauma and pain suffered by Indigenous peoples through the invasion of their lands and that my family and I have benefited as a result of this brutality. I humbly offer my personal apology and I hope that together and with mutual respect we can acknowledge and address the trauma brought on by colonisation and build a better future.