THE CLEARING
Each of us exists within our own unique clearing. An ambiguous realm where objects are disclosed and concealed. Where we are forced to devise codes, decipher meaning and observe the actions of others in order to define our notion of self. A place where time is malleable, where past, present and future meld. A space where object and subject combine, where internal and external, personal and universal collide with tectonic consequences.
THE CLEARING began as a response to a seemingly minor artistic problem, the contextualising of my artistic practice in order to provide audiences a route into my work. Developing into an exploration of deeper anxieties regarding integrity, authenticity and self, THE CLEARING draws inspiration from the poetic resonance of Martin Heidegger's philosophical investigations. Most influentially Heidegger's notion of anxiety arising from the conflict of 'being-in-the-world' and 'being-with-others', as well as his concept of 'Lichtung' (the clearing), 'Aletheia' (disclosure) and its opposite, 'Lethe' (concealment), which together render the clearing an ambiguous realm.
