Slippage : The Unstable Nature of Difference

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Catalogue essay to accompany the exhibition Slippage: The Unstable Nature of Difference

Contemporary Art Space Chester, University of Chester, March 2015

Curated by Jo Thorne & Lesley Halliwell

SLIPPAGE: The Unstable Nature of Difference emerged from a dialogue that started some six years ago. Both of us are practicing artists who also have a personal and current experience of disability. Jo is a survivor of childhood cancer and an amputee and Lesley is the mother of a child with severe special needs.  It is this shared area of experience that we explore further through the exhibition.  We contend that visual art has the capacity to expand our understanding of embodiment to include a more diverse range of lived experiences. We have set out to challenge preconceptions of what is normal, what isn’t and more importantly, what it feels like to experience difference from the inside out rather than the outside in. 

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Repeatrepeat Conference

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Going Straight: Reflections on a repetitive process, a practitioners account.

In my attempt to understand some of the meanings of repetition and the motivation for working in this way I have made a comparison with another repetitive process, that of walking; a mundane activity which relies on the repetition of the same physical movement; an activity which is simple and straight forward and part of our everyday life; an activity whose meaning and purpose is transformed through multiplication.

The first thing I’m going to do is set the scene by giving you a little bit of information about my practice. I’m then going to talk about walking, focusing on:


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Negotiated Postitions

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Published by the centre for practice as research in the arts, University of Chester

Thoughts on a Repetitive Process;

Getting started is the most difficult part.

Anything to put it off; empty the dishwasher, sweep the floor, put the washing in.

To delay, avoid, postpone, put on ‘hold’.

I start begrudgingly and with trepidation.

Like the beginning of a journey, a walk, or an adventure.

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Something Light

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GLYNDWR UNIVERSITY, CATALOGUE ESSAY

Ways of Looking

Abstract art frequently baffles people. Because it appears unrelated to the world of appearances we often think it is more difficult to understand.

When we look at a painting of a chair, for example, we feel confident that we have enough knowledge ‘of chairs’ to know whether or not it is a good representation.
Abstract art, on the other hand, often refers obliquely to the artist’s inner world or simply to itself. The manner in which paint is applied may appear crude or the composition infantile. Because it does not conform to general ideas about representation

 

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