Sacred or Profane

Sept. 1st – Oct. 1st

Sacred or Profane

is designed as a provocative exhibition to challenge the viewer to question the nature of their relationships.  This is the result of personal wrestling, and exploration of relationships that I see as an integral part of being human.  Relationships, can feed or starve the soul, they can be creative or caustic, life affirming or life denying; in essence, they can be sacred or profane.

I have placed the life-size vessels that echo the head and torso of the human form, in relationship scenarios.  The vessels are twined from discarded sheets each with their own narrative of relationships. Some of the sheets were thin and worn in the centre, some stained, some re-stitched to keep them going a little longer, some cut down to use in a new form. I chose the mundane and repetitive labor of the twining technique as a reference to relationships; repetitive, mundane, and so often taken for granted.  The colors, scale and grouping are designed to leave the viewer wondering; Why those colours, why that size, why those two together and not another, why some on their own.  Is this still a relationship?

This exhibition echoes Guatemalan Worry Dolls and the indigenous dilly bag as I tap into human experience of relationships.  I hope these simple yet engaging vessels, scenes of relationships, will draw you into the space that asks: Are these relationships sacred or profane?   Are my relationships sacred or profane?

Margaret Nixon reinix@netspace.net.au