The derire to connect

The shared desire to connect and express from the body and communicate this to each other…to attempt to strip our habitual individual language back may lead us to places unfamiliar. Uncomfortable places. But this is where we need to go with each other to uncover the questions driving this project. To find the points where we connect and dislocate.

I have to be open and patient in my negotiation with the boundaries of the technology between me and the art of the work in Mirror States. A big ask of a low tech girl. At the moment I feel it holds me a/part sometimes from a direct experience of the work.
But there is much richness here. And everyone on this project has much to offer me in this negotiation. It’s a priviledge to be in this position.

The openness of others to learning more about what I hold near and dear is also a priviledge to experience.

So, I’m going to feel the walls of my practice too. I’m going to see what moves, what bends, what folds, what gives.

One thing I can offer is my long experience of making objects with my body about the body-the physicality of the process feeding the concepts which underpin the work.

What is the role of our bodies in our own work? Can coming closer to an understanding of that on an individual basis change what we make and how we communicate it?

I’m interested in the methodolgy Lizzie introduced me to today. I had never thought of it as a vehicle for informing and developing an artwork before. It was my first interaction with this research method really. A desire I have now is to investigate the possibilities here- a kind of Mobius Strip of the work and people’s interaction with the work. People…everday…off the street people, not necessarily performers. Spontaneous interaction feeding into the meaning of the work itself. No longer static.

About Catherine Truman

Catherine Truman is co-founder of Gray Street Workshop in Adelaide. Established in 1985, it is one of Australia's longest running artists' co-operatives. She has traveled and exhibited widely nationally and internationally and is represented in a number of major national and international collections including the Pinakothek Moderne Munich, Museum of Auckland, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Powerhouse Museum Sydney, Art Gallery of South Australia and Artbank. She has completed a number of major public sculptural commissions including Slate Pool Walkway at the Art Gallery of South Australia and A Way of Seeing for David Jones, Adelaide. Truman qualified as a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method in 1999 and uses the body as a starting point in her work. Her work has always been informed by a strong political consciousness. Earlier work has dealt with social issues ranging from aging, housing and shelter through to more personal themes dealing with human intimacy. Later work is centred upon investigations into the authenticity of the images we carry about our personal anatomy. The resulting objects characteristically carved from wood or wax are not exact anatomical replicas but rather evoke sensory responses of physical recognition and resemblance. Currently she is a PhD research candidate at Monash University and her topic is The crafting of human anatomy - a personal inquiry.

View all posts by Catherine Truman →