Gwenllian Spink: Adlais Hynafol, Ancient Echoes
Metamorphic rocks are a transformation of ancient sediment. Heat and pressure cause new atomic structures to emerge, a new material that echoes its former self. Gwenllian Spink鈥檚 work is a cultural and historical metamorphism, the crushing and reforming of the world around her.
In this exhibition at Camberwell Space, the artist mimics Neolithic remains scattered across the landscape of her home in Wales using the visual language she has acquired from living in London. Structures that echo Neolithic burial chambers loom large, cloaked by webs of woven hairbands in an effort to encapsulate a new cultural identity. Reconstituted infant trainers imitating prehistoric axes decorate the gallery walls, status symbols reformed as tools of war, each brand a clan competing for our attention.
Spink makes instinctively. Materials are gathered from her immediate surroundings, chosen not just for their aesthetic qualities but often because they are commonplace and overlooked. Intense labour goes into the production of her work; traditional craft methods meet mass-produced materials and near-infinite repetition. For this exhibition, materials have been scrutinised for their social significance and unconscious symbolism. Weaving and stitching are the crafts of choice, appropriately used to combine and encapsulate.
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Metamorphic rocks are a transformation of ancient sediment. Heat and pressure cause new atomic structures to emerge, a new material that echoes its former self. Gwenllian Spink鈥檚 work is a cultural and historical metamorphism, the crushing and reforming of the world around her.
In this exhibition at Camberwell Space, the artist mimics Neolithic remains scattered across the landscape of her home in Wales using the visual language she has acquired from living in London. Structures that echo Neolithic burial chambers loom large, cloaked by webs of woven hairbands in an effort to encapsulate a new cultural identity. Reconstituted infant trainers imitating prehistoric axes decorate the gallery walls, status symbols reformed as tools of war, each brand a clan competing for our attention.
Spink makes instinctively. Materials are gathered from her immediate surroundings, chosen not just for their aesthetic qualities but often because they are commonplace and overlooked. Intense labour goes into the production of her work; traditional craft methods meet mass-produced materials and near-infinite repetition. For this exhibition, materials have been scrutinised for their social significance and unconscious symbolism. Weaving and stitching are the crafts of choice, appropriately used to combine and encapsulate.
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