You Know, Kate, Not Everything You Do Is Art

I was left speechless (unusually for me).

I was a bit surprised because usually he is a bit more open-minded, being someone who likes to experience art, to talk about art and to paint. Maybe it’s because it was the umpteenth time that I had disturbed him whilst he was doomscrolling on his phone. Look at this, I had said. I told him that I would name and shame him. I told him that I would tell all my course mates what he had said and ask them how I should have reacted. We had a titter.

I’d been pouring my morning kombucha. Those bubbles…

Video of Bubbles 1

Video of Bubbles 2

Video of Bubbles 3

I’d been playing with the dog in the garden. Those shadows…

Video of Shadows 1

Video of Shadows 2

Video of Shadows 3

Threads

Whilst I was in London I went to the Hayward Gallery to see Chiharu Shiota’s Threads of Life.

It was captivating. It wasn’t just the scale, the sheer amount and complexity of the thread, or its immersive effect, it was also the effect it had on what is viewed through it. I stood in front of the dress in the cabinet for ages. The fragmentation of the image of the dress through the threads gives it an almost spectral presence. I was also fascinated by how the threads were stapled to the wall, and woven in between each other, casting shadows which create further depth.

I watched some footage of her working when I got back, and looked at some of her drawings. They remind me of Do Ho Suh. Having used thread recently, I can see myself using it more in the future. I even like the effect of it in the photos, which are only 2D images.