Friday 10 December 2010

Sachiko Abe, "Cut Papers"

Friday 10 December 2010
Before we entered the room we were told to not make too much noise, and to take no photographs. I found myself imagining a small mouse like creature working away, shy and embarrassed at what they have found themselves doing. But instead I see a woman called Sachiko, sitting tall, above us all like Rapunzel, quiet and concentrated on the task at hand, the neverending task of cutting paper. The hypnotising task of cutting paper.
The paper sculpture that appears to be flowing up from the floor starkly contrasts the industrial environment to which the work is placed in. It makes the paper look even more delicate, like cotton wool. I found it interesting that it slightly resembled the shape of a tree, an organic shape, to which is the origin of the paper itself.
I enjoyed looking around the room, seeing the hidden secrets the cut papers had to offer, seeing how they were placed and how they made you feel, they made me imagine that all the clouds in the sky could be made from cut paper, and then I thought about the clouds falling from the sky because they were too heavy, which then lead me to think of how we would sensibly use all this paper, in hamster cages probably. I used to cut up tissue paper to use for my hamster's bed, this is what I ultimately thought of.
The sound of the scissors cutting away at the paper amplified made me feel uncomfortable, the sound of cutting reminded me of the few small cuts I'd had involving scissors, which I'm sure everyone has had once in their life. I wondered if she were secretly using safety scissors, like the ones given to children in primary school.

Only

I'm becoming less defined as days go by
Fading away
And well you might say
I'm losing focus
Kinda drifting into the abstract in terms of how I see myself

Sometimes I think I can see right through myself
Sometimes I think I can see right through myself
Sometimes I can see right through myself

Biennial Overview

Experiencing my first Biennial in Liverpool has overall been a positive experience. It's made me ask questions about myself such as would I ever want to create work like this and have it in this type of environment?
I feel that the Liverpool Biennial has had a positive impact on the city overall in that it's encouraging people in Liverpool to see art they otherwise might not have gone to see, art that's local and accessible to everyone.

It’s interesting to hear from artists first hand what their inspiration was behind their work and how it was created. It’s nice to listen to people who are recognised worldwide in the field of Fine Art and see that you can be successful.

On the other hand it’s also made me think about the type of audience you get when you’re viewing work in the Biennial. I often saw people questioning whether the pieces they were looking at was art, and I guess that’s all down to personal opinion. At first I was questioning whether this art was only really appreciated by artists because they have the most open mind, and whether I wanted my work to be appreciated and seen by a wider audience rather than just practicing artists.

I like that the work in Biennials helps promote communication between different countries, and it’s been eye opening to see the work produced from other artists of varying cultures, but I don’t think I could see at this point my work being in that type of environment. Somehow it feels as if my work belongs elsewhere, small places, on a wall in a house, or online, it’s hard to see my work in such a big event, hard to see myself being picked for such an event as big as the Biennial.

The other day I was looking on our fridge and saw the rules of a drinking game we played once, and remembered how I didn't want to play so that I didn't make a fool out of myself. It was then that I thought to myself, why do I always do that? Why do I never think, I could do that, I could achieve that. It's funny that something so silly as a drinking game told me that pretty much my whole life I've been settling for second best, never really aiming for the highest I can go. But really really thinking about it, would I want my work in the Biennial? I'm going to have to say no, although it's probably still a confidence thing.

Monday 6 December 2010

Broke

Monday 6 December 2010
You move your mouth
You shake your tongue
You vibrate my eardrums
You're saying words
But you know I ain't listening

Hannah B © 2014