1966

1966 is a three metre square wall of stitched velvet, hung with sash cord from the ceiling in the centre of the room. Both sides can be accessed equally, despite one side appearing to be the back. The materials and approach to construction are key to the work’s affective process and dominant presence: four separate panels of recycled curtains are joined together into one over-sized piece, transforming their scale from domestic to industrial, or perhaps theatrical. The accessibility of the reverse side creates the suggestion of a backstage space, inviting associations with set design, or large scale architectural forms. 

The fabric used in this work was left behind in the home I moved into, which was built in 1966, the year I was born. Working with the materials that were part of the original bungalow was a way for me to reflect on my own point and presence in time. The work is both a found object and a made object, appearing almost caught between two states, or stretched across time. The strong lines on the fabric, faded by the presence of the sun, express both the passage of time and the persistence of fabric that has hung in place over many decades. Despite there being a static object for the viewer to interact with, both eye and body are encouraged to keep moving. The work suggests a window or a sundial, across which shadows of the material’s history and present life shift back and forth.