My one and basically only resolution this year was to see more art exhibitions.
As I was visiting my family in Horsham, I went to the Horsham Regional Art Gallery.
As a teen I had a lot to do with the Gallery after doing Work experience with them. Back then the town hall/Gallery was under construction so they had set up the gallery in an old unused Dance Hall. So I wasn't apart of any day to day tasks in this gallery. Side note - Also as a teen I was a part of an photography exhibition 'Under the surface' with other students from other schools around the area. Which is funny because I have never considered myself a photographer.
Anyway I had a wonder and the work that stuck out and has stuck with me the most was Juana Beltran's Shadow Beings 25 March 2023 -18 June 2023
The exhibition was situated in a large, darkened room. Hung around the room were life sized human silhouettes, they moved gently in the slight breeze that was in the gallery. Soft lights were focused on the figures casting a shadow behind that shimmered with the movement of the floating silhouettes. Surrounding the room were the sounds of birds and nature, with a barely audible droning sound. Towards the right corner of the room was a small intimate room with a video piece playing. The work was slow moving shots of the Australian outback with a superimposed silhouette of a woman over the top.
Walking into the room the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and it triggered my flight or fight response. All of the silhouettes face the door of the room in a semi-circle. So, when I walked in, I felt a thousand eyes looking at me, making me fell very exposed and uncomfortable. I felt some very strong emotions and stood in the doorway for some time, frozen. To psychoanalyse myself, I think that because some of the shadow figures had appendages where genitalia would be made me feel uncomfortable, like I was standing in a room of naked men all staring at me. I don't think it was the intention of the artist, but I reacted very negatively to the work, even though it was very simple, just silhouettes and shadows on the wall. The audio also added to this sense of uneasiness that I felt, the low drone sound was very similar to the audio that would be in a Horror movie or Game, which would have played into my pervious experiences with those mediums making me hyper aware and on edge. Again, the work was very simple with its premise and materials but was very powerful. The images do not do it justice, it really is something that you need to experiace.
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