Understate

Understate / Discreto was made as part of my residency and solo show Imagining the Fluidity of Permanence (an exchange between a 21st Century artist and a 17th Century building), at Casa Regis, Italy, curated by L. Mikelle Stanbridge. 

The work is a simple intervention, but this slight, disruptive shift makes a large difference to how the environment is experienced. The gesture of moving the mirrors onto the stairs makes progress awkward, and forces people to slow down. Movement becomes complicated as the person navigating the stairs must look down to avoid breaking the mirrors, yet at the same time looking down reveals their own reflection, what is above and behind them, and further complicates the traversal of the steps. In ordinary life, progression up stairs implies achievement, ascendency, greater awareness, or even enlightenment, whereas the mirrored steps wrong-foot us, reversing up and down, forcing us to confront our own reflections, the limits of our vision, and our susceptibility to confusion.