Tina Skukan Art Gallery, Unisa Art Gallery and White River Art Gallery (2024)

The creative research for the travelling exhibition The Measure of Matter consists of a reimagining of spines, mapping devices and objects to consider our reality of being bound by time and matter. The 21 new works created in 2024 involved photography and mixed media works ranging from acrylic inks, Lucia Pro ink, charcoal, graphite and pencil drawings, as well as oil paintings with encaustic.

In an astrological sense bones are with winter, capturing the light within the dark (according to Jung). As an older artist, this paradox is constantly present in my life. Whilst a lifetime of serotonin-release probably contributed to the weakening of my bones, I imagine new ‘bones,’ as part of a playful reimaging of structures. Initially I approached the concept of anatomy as a mechanistic system of levels and levers, which changed when I became aware of the body’s incredible ability to grow new bone, restructuring the old into something new.

Weathered book spines are linked to the theme of the skeleton. Old books lose their covers over time but are kept intact by a network of threads, like tendons binding muscle and bone. Objects ready to be discarded also feature in this exhibition: an old scrubbing brush, a cracked table, a page ripped from a sketchbook, and a dark landscape with a history.

I consider weather mapping to think about fresh winds blowing into matter, aging, narratives of second journeys and visual images that evoke our relationships with material ‘stuff,’ measuring whether it even matters. A rendering of the neck’s tiny atlas bone alludes to Atlas, the Greek god carrying the world on his shoulders, and simultaneously this little bone is the hinge for the weight of the skull. Much like the atlas bone, our spiritual compass decides what matters and what does not, and how we measure its bearing.

References:
Bridgman, GB. 1972. The human machine. The anatomical structure and mechanism of the human body. New York: Dover publication.
Jung, CG.  2009. The Red Book: Liber Novus/The new book. Editedby S. Shamdasani, translated by M. Kyburz, J. Peck and S. Shamdasani. New York: WW. Norton. Extract available.
Spano,  MV. 2013. A beginner'sguide to CJ Jung's Red Book, in Reflections on phycology, culture and life: The Jung page

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Gallery of images from the openings and walkabouts of The Measure of Matter 2024: