"Babies cry out of frustration because they haven't the vocabulary to express themselves. And then they grow up and go to the cinema and look at paintings and read newspapers and cry because they still don't know the words" - Emma Forrest (Name Dropper)
My work originates in the human desire to communicate, and a personal craving to consume all forms of correspondence. In an age where it’s becoming increasingly easier to communicate I feel very few people actually converse. The words we exchange daily become more and more flippant; mostly people aren’t really talking, but I suspect that in equal measures people aren’t really listening. Themes of repetition are represented throughout my work often to deny the viewer a chance to dismiss the statement and sentiment as an inescapable, brutal truth. The obsession, which is also conveyed through this repetition, for me, speaks about a demand for attention, a relentless reluctance to simply go unheard. I wish to make people attend to this epidemic of emotional isolation; to do this I try to highlight the relationships that envelop our lives. The wonderful thing about seeing something that speaks of neglect or loneliness is that the memory of a similar pain often reminds us to act in the opposite manner.
Within my work I draw my texts from the sources that surround me, it may be a conversation in a bar or a quote from a film, but when something resonates with me I can’t escape it. These texts are bred from a compelling desire to read, hear and create sentences that help to explain and comfort in times when all else fails. In this sense it is impossible to deny my work is highly personal, and yet at the same time it attends to a nature that is common. My work is a public exclamation of my private thoughts, which hopefully echoes a universal disposition amongst the viewer.
To view more of my work please visit www.asmallwood.co.uk
1 comment:
I love this :))
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