Lines in the sand

This was the first piece I had the courage to show, and I called it 'About the Artist'. It went into an exhibition as part of  the Threshold Festival, at the Contemporary Urban Centre in Liverpool, back in Feb 2011. I made my perfectly lifesize paperclip from scraps of my past, emphera that had previously sat around at the bottom of drawers, in boxes, tea-chests in the loft, and other nooks and crannys. Stuff I'd clung to from my past, unwilling to discard, but unforgotten and hidden away. I decided last year that I wanted to make some life changes, and this piece provided release to things I'd held on to for years, but needed to let go of. To the casual observer it's just a collage. But to me it's far more personal. It stands on a plinth, supported by 4 rolls of undeveloped rolls of b&w film from the 80's, and contains Manhattan taxi receipts, ex-girfriend rants, old school reports, concert stubs, passports & visas, and handwritten personal communications of all forms. The remembered and the forgotten, brought together as one. About the Artist allowed me to mark a line in the sand, and gave me a chance to organise and express my cluttered past. The blog lays down another, and I'm looking forward to documenting the journey.