Irony in Flow (2020)
Concrete cloth and powder coated mild steel
In producing this work, Irony in Flow, I contemplated the passage of time across generations and how the mind, propped by a fragile ego, clings to the apparent solidity of day to day life. Yet beyond mind is an awareness of a fluidity that connects us to all, past and present, beings. The materials in this work engage with this subterranean flow, recall their own memory and reveal the nature of mind with its potential of becoming. In the process, the materials present a paradox between hard and soft, offering an essential metaphor for contemplating this precious conditioned life.
About the Artist
Em Ingram-Shute lives on Gadigal Wangal land in Sydney’s inner west. Her art practice involves investigating psychic and political themes through intuitive material combinations. Em’s work taps into themes of presence and absence, presence being the molecular nature of the object in the here and now, whereas absence is the intergenerational memories held within. She seeks to transform these latent memories through the act of making. Em completed her BFA at National Art School in 2020 where she was the recipient of the Sculpture by the Sea, Brandon Trackman and John Olsen Awards. She has also exhibited at Dominik Mersch Gallery, Articulate and Gaffa Galleries.
Transcription
Hi, I'd like to introduce myself. My Name's Emryn. I'm an artist who lives, works creates on Gadigal land here in the inner west of Sydney. The title of my sculpture is irony and flow, and in the making of this artwork I contemplated the passage of time and how the mind, propped by a fragile ego, often clings to the solidity of day to day life. Yet beyond our mind is an awareness of a fluidity that connects us all to pass and present beings. So I use materials that act as a metaphor for this contemplation. So it's made of a durable external grade concrete cloth and also comprises a pair of yellow powder coated still saw horses resembling baby giraffe legs when they're first learning to how to walk. You know often they're ungainly and teetering, but yet they're full of potential. In the process of making this work, I used an old hospital trolley as a basis of the form and you can still see this memory and residue in the structure.
When you cure concrete cloth it takes over five hours and it's actually a very physical struggle because the it weighs over seventy Kilo's and I actually lifted and heaved the material for the duration of this time. It was really an endurance sculpture in the end, which it was unexpected. But before I started the curing of this concrete, I sat and meditated with the raw materials and the trolley for a couple of hours. For me it really helped in the act of making and I think what happens is an intuitive exchange occurs between the body and materials and the space opens up that is really beyond my fixed self.
I was drawn to Rookwood Cemetery as an exhibition space as it's a place where I've really mourned and celebrated those who have traversed life with me and it's a place of contemplation. So to exhibit here allows me to give back to those who have really touched my being. My hope for the audience in viewing irony and flow here at Rookwood allows a pause to occur to see what is beyond what we think is solid and fixed and hopefully offers a contemplation to arise on this precious conditioned human life.