Artist's statement, April 2009
In recent years the focus of my work has been shifting. For ten years, I was strongly influenced by the skies and weather to be found on the west coast of the United Kingdom. This interest developed into a series of journeys over the course of a year, to eight destinations chosen to represent literally or symbolically the eight points of the compass on the UK mainland. Using sand collected in each location along with my signature material, the River Severn mud, I painted a series of sixteen paintings that were shown as an installation - two crosses, eight points, one centre - in The Vaults, Stroud in June 2008 (see Gallery and Diary for details).
The exhibition marked a transition in my focus from the skies to the earth. The idea of 'earth' holding the memory and stories of a place is not a new one to me. Both physical traces and less tangible feelings of what went before can still be discovered in most places, and it is these layers of time and human stories that now inspire me in my work.
In 2007 I embarked on a two year Foundation Degree in Creative Practices at Stroud College. In the first year I explored video, photography, artist's books and installation as alternative mediums through which to express my ideas. My long-standing love and intrigue of washing lines resulted in a body of work based on my research of the universal practice of hanging ones laundry out to dry and the pure aesthetics of washing blowing in the wind that seem to evoke strong emotions ranging from nostalgia to bliss.
'Hang your knickers on the line' is a video installation documenting peoples' relationships to their washing lines and in particular their responses to the question: "How do you feel about hanging your knickers on the line" This seemingly mundane act opens up a complex mixture of often sub-conscious attitudes to intimacy, exposure and voyeurism.
In Year two I have been developing my increasing interest in working with memory, history, text and projection. An invitation to participate in the Stroud International Textile Festival 2009 provided me with an opportunity to explore working collaboratively with a fellow artist on site-specific installations. For two weeks in May, Stroud Cemetery will be the location for a series of installations based on extensive research into the social history of the cemetery and neighbouring workhouse with particular reference to the memories of the paupers buried there in unnamed graves (see section on Re-dressing Absence).
The questions surrounding memory and history continue to inspire my work, in particular what is remembered and what is forgotten. The earth as a material that experiences and survives history is an extension of my use of mud and sand in my paintings and is integral to my understanding of place in relation to site-specific work.
Angela Findlay, April 2009
