Press Release

Below is the Press Release for our upcoming show FRAGILE: This Way Up, please have a read of it and let me know if any of the text should be altered in any way. I will show you/ post the layout of the press release in another post soon. There will be an image (If anyone has any high quality images of the artists' individual work that would be great as I don't have any- email them to me if you can, rachael_leahcar@hotmail.com) relating to each of the artists' as well as the logo that is being distibuted around the school building and we will be able to print the floor plan on the back once we know what it will look like. Ignore the formatting of the text below also, the first paragraph is the overall statement and the smaller second half will be all one size and all one block, without breaks in the text.

Do you think the font of the title should be different? Or should it stay this way? I chose Arial Block to echo the photograph that Becky took of the book with this phrase on, I think it is more recognisable it's a block font like this. Let me know your thoughts!

Talk to you all soon,

Rachael

FRAGILE: This Way Up

A group curated show that explores, exploits and quietly discusses the physicality and mentality of fragility.

 

Exhibiting 27^th February-1^st March

We experience fragility in our daily lives, through physically fragile, ephemeral and materialistic possessions but also the mentality of fragility; we have sensitive emotions and minds. ‘FRAGILE: This Way Up’ is a show that will combine the work of four artists: Dale Hipkiss¹, Kerryanne Hassent², Beth Lloyd³ and Hannah Swingler⁴, to create a darkly light-hearted contradictory selection, instilling an evocation of thought that embodies the everyday with a highlight to material things. The artists notify others to the fragility of our possessions, but also signify the fragility of our emotions and our need to hold on to ‘things’ both materialistic and emotional.

Dale Hipkiss¹ explores the dialogue between substance and interaction; through the excessive amount of an everyday object- paper- the objects’ purpose is questioned. The ‘live’ aspect of Dale’s work echoes the theme of physical fragility, as during the show, the paper will be damaged, thus providing confirmation. His performance also embodies a physical representation of something short-lived, signifying that our materialistic obsessions are without purpose, as they can be gone in a fleeting moment.  The performance will be singular, transient and the aftermath will resemble loss, of having something that is no more. Kerryanne Hassent²’s work is similar as it represents a loss of something, only in her black and white photographs and physically fragile petal like pieces pinned to each, the loss is personal. Her photographs were taken at a distance as a way to prevent involvement and as a way to protect a fragile mind from a harsh reality of loss.  It denotes not letting go, not being able to let go, a fleeting moment that isn't allowed to end as opposed to a physical letting go. This echoes our nature as fragile-minded beings to holding onto things, whether they are materialistic or emotional. In relation Beth Lloyd³ explores the expression of mentality within the elegance of words. Her work deals with the understanding of Taboo; it challenges our knowledge and questions the acceptance of the mental state, a fragile mind. The "fragility" it expresses upon first interaction is heavily juxtaposed with substance of psychological distress. An opposing piece presented the ‘script’ without the support of paper, the ‘disintegration’ of material questions the relevance of a structure. Personally, the process of removal is an indication that the remaining content is crucial; the paper wasn't of any importance because its state isn't desired. Beth’s work creates a dialogue with Dales’; it discusses the need for possession through a lack of paper in the former and an excess in the latter. Possessions are every day and the prompt for Hannah Swingler⁴’s work were the everyday, fleeting conversations that she overheard during her commute. Her work implies every day encounters; those that are brief and those that have the possibility to completely change your life, as the ‘moment’ in Kerryanne’s work has and does. Hannah stated that these fleeting moments that hold no significance are what intrigue her most. She depicts this idea through representation of framed (a concentration on possession physically) discarded photographs hung on the wall. This ‘discarding’ implies the fleeting and fragile nature of possession. Amongst the photographs are phrases that we often think in our heads but do not say out loud. These are stitched, similarly to Beth’s work, which adds a personal touch to the piece.

By Rachael S Attwood