Hanging by a Thread

Sapele wood, treated tissue, pins and thread

Hanging by a Thread

At the point just before its disintegration we say that something is ‘hanging by a thread’. The something is usually something we cherish, follow, study, or admire. Sometimes we regret its demise and we try to preserve and mend it as best we can in order that it may exist a little longer.

This work alludes to that ‘something’ whatever it may be (we all have our personal ‘somethings’ ). The fragile nature of the material within the frame is on the edge of its own existence; visceral, thin, worn to translucency, stretched, pinned and stitched it literally hangs by a thread, which at any moment might fail, leaving in its place the gaping void of nothingness.

The frame, before the collapse of the ‘something’ within, references at this point, the museum case. It enshrines its contents giving them a beauty worth preserving for as long as possible. It gives us a voyeuristic viewpoint, which assists the process of distancing ourselves from the ‘something’ at a gentler pace than speedy impact and shock of its immediate destruction.

Pre and post collapse, the frame also references the frameworks that we exist within, the frame is strong and substantial, it gives the potential for anything to happen, contained within those boundaries. Post collapse the frame and those frameworks, physical, emotional, cultural or imagined remain, new ‘somethings’ grow and flourish within them.