A Part Apart

Before separation occurs, we share a cutaneous interface, a wrapping. In the womb I was ‘one-skin’ with my mother. In the process of becoming an individual it becomes inevitable that a series of physical and emotional separations take place.

The pulling apart of the initial ‘one-skin’ creates a tension between the ongoing closeness and distance. I explore the bond between my mother and myself that holds us together, the way the relationship is changed through distance and unshared experiences, that which separates us, but with an intention to always return.

To bring the parts together that exist separately, I work with clothing pattern pieces made from malleable wax, with surface imprints of close-up images of our bodies. At times her body is imprinted on one side, and mine on the other; although translucent when held up to the light, the images merge. Pattern pieces exist only because there is a potential complete garment, a whole. The tension to become one exists. The installation of suspended veils of printed full-body photographs creates a film, an outer skin. The veils are semi-transparent, nuancing the layers beyond. In the centre, between the veils the delicately hung pattern pieces move and shift to the fluidity of the ambient air.

Photographs of the figures, close-up body details and pattern pieces were projected onto the installation, adding another visual layer. The effect of double-exposed images distort, as the veils and pattern pieces move whilst casting shadows onto the veils beyond.

Being a part but remaining apart preserves the tension, in an attempt to reconcile the relational stress from the memory of the shared ‘one-skin’.