TROUBLED STATES
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Ink and mixed media on paper
Varied measurements
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Troubled States is a series of mixed media works on paper that started on a residency at Banff Centre for Arts, Canada. The watercolour sheets were placed in the snow whilst I poured ink grounds, hence the crystal marbling. It wasn't until much later, when on another residency in Centrum, USA, that I began to work them up to a finished conclusion.
The origins of the artworks are evident in the 'imprint' of residues from the melting snow. Some of the pieces disintegrated and came apart to create fragments, perhaps reflecting the fragile nature of our environment.
Troubled States 'natural forms' emerge from the black ink grounds and are contrasted with coloured decorative motifs which instil a sense of 'ornate' faded grandeur. Through fragmentation and dislocation, it suggests a shifting of identities, perhaps alluding to the breakdown of old orders.
The series has been shown as a single installation piece and the location determines how individual pieces might be viewed, singularly or in dialogue with each other.
It’s a very open, flexible piece that could respond and resonate with a site that is ‘overlooked’ or is non-descriptive, somewhere that feels 'abandoned'.
Veronica Slater
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All photos © Bernard G Mills
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