Explorations with the Unearthed Dead
Experiments With Unearthing the Dead is made from fabricated ceramic bones and bits of old carpet. These works are conversations about the materiality of found and hand made objects and the symbolic gestures implied. The Simulacrum, and the Duchampian readymade are embraced, taking into consideration Fluxus and Surrealist processes. I found old carpet and fabricated bones, and decided to assemble the material together without a plan. The results were these strange creatures which could be dancing, fighting or any form of action. My obvious meaning is to create something new out of a material struggle between a found object and a handmade object, and how they might speak about one another. The symbolic meaning was to represent unidentified remains and the concealment of death in our culture. By using bones and an old rug to create new objects, without a hierarchy of material, I believe I have metaphorically taken the skeletons out of the cultural closet and posed a question; what does it mean to embrace the dead instead of conceal them? I approached the process of making these creatures with no design in mind, only what the materials could dictate and thus leaving their presence open to interpretation. Are they dancing? Are they fighting? I am dealing with the materiality and representation of the dead. By adding bright colour to the work further transformed its reading. It cleaned up the shady condition of the found carpet and gave a comical reading of the bones, instead of the stereotypical macabre symbolism usually contained in bones, exploring further into the complication of signs.