It's taken a year to create all the elements of this monstorous piece;
delicate little screen-printed footprints on stones that change in the rain,
individually printed and sewn monkey embryos,
bleached animal bones meticulously wrapped in fine embroidery cottons and stacked into a nest,
plants from my garden pounded to a pulp through muslin and made into paper sculptures,
fabrics and hides surface printed with lino cuts and crocheted forms,
paper and silk mushrooms crafted and decorated,
mounds and mounds of grass sewn by hand,
organisms imagined, dyed, spun, woven, crocheted and wired,
all brought together into one great knoll.
It is akin to a consumption that has held me in its grip. And finally let me go.
So here it is. My malady in 3D. I am released.
'Monkey Spawn'
It is by just a tweak of nature or environment that we are here in our current form. Evolution has many branches. Had the World been a wetter place, would we, or indeed would monkeys, have evolved to spawn like frogs instead of give birth to live young?
At first engagement, I want the onlooker to feel safe, familiar even, with my installation. It looks like a quiet glade. But as you inspect, you begin to feel a disquiet. A nest made of wrapped bones. Strange footprints that appear to be made by a one-footed animal. And above you, a huge ball of monkey spawn, suspended in spit. What creatures made these marks? How large is the mother of this nest? Is she nearby? Is she watching you? Are you indeed safe? The onlooker becomes an intruder. How long dare you stay?
'Monkey Spawn' will show at the FE McWilliam sculpture gallery in Banbridge, Northern Ireland as part of 'Another Dimension. Print in 3D' until 15th May 2011.
