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Madeleine DONOVAN
Artist Statement
I use photography, video and installation to explore the elaborate rituals that are constructed to enable physical contact between people in a society obsessed with contained personal space. I employ playfulness and humour, using theatrical devices to produce work were the affect of performance meets with photography. I have a versatile art practice involving photography, circus, performance and community. I collaborate diversely with artists and groups amateur, community and professional. I am drawn to the Catalan custom of human castle building because of the intimacy, process and outcome of the performance. Human castling is linked intrinsically to my own work by the literal and metaphorical themes of affect and gesture, trust and collective consciousness. The Castellers illustrate how ritual and the community can produce spectacle and spontaneous performance. Re-contextualising the Catalan tradition of Castelling in alternative venues allows a further examination to take place as the individual ego is put aside and a group consciousness takes over. With the release of inhibition and personal space, the thrill and the affect enters the performance enabling an unrecognised feeling to take hold that skirts between concern and exhilaration, confusion and purpose. Using the body as sculptural device, my work incorporates form and gesture to depict the dynamics in the relationships we have with our partners, colleagues, our family, community and ultimately ourselves. Currently exhibiting at Westspace, Melbourne from 22 June - 14 July 2007.
I use photography, video and installation to explore the elaborate rituals that are constructed to enable physical contact between people in a society obsessed with contained personal space. I employ playfulness and humour, using theatrical devices to produce work were the affect of performance meets with photography. I have a versatile art practice involving photography, circus, performance and community. I collaborate diversely with artists and groups amateur, community and professional. I am drawn to the Catalan custom of human castle building because of the intimacy, process and outcome of the performance. Human castling is linked intrinsically to my own work by the literal and metaphorical themes of affect and gesture, trust and collective consciousness. The Castellers illustrate how ritual and the community can produce spectacle and spontaneous performance. Re-contextualising the Catalan tradition of Castelling in alternative venues allows a further examination to take place as the individual ego is put aside and a group consciousness takes over. With the release of inhibition and personal space, the thrill and the affect enters the performance enabling an unrecognised feeling to take hold that skirts between concern and exhilaration, confusion and purpose. Using the body as sculptural device, my work incorporates form and gesture to depict the dynamics in the relationships we have with our partners, colleagues, our family, community and ultimately ourselves. Currently exhibiting at Westspace, Melbourne from 22 June - 14 July 2007.
State
Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
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