Java Bentley
Quilt (with Kirsty McNeil)
The handmade is transformed into objects that have a relationship to holding and carrying space. In terms of materiality, the contrast between soft and hard materials question what is the interior and exterior form. The concept of the home is reflected in geometric shapes as the objects resemble familial encounters because the work was created insitu as an event for bodies.
This assemblage of objects evokes particular memories and experiences as each object has marks of the hand which shows the process and how it was made. The function of the quilt as a memory container also served as a foundation for my other work which commemorate personal memories.
The implication of inflatables is deflation and the release of pressure and tension. The juxtaposition between the more substantial and weighty forms in relation to the inflatable, represent a conceptual narrative of memory and the home and show how elusive, fixations of memories can control and weigh us down. Looking through the house, the viewer sees the dim, obscure shape of the ball on the table, evoking the way memories can intrude and yet also fade.
