Everything I Have Ever Lost

Hello! I spent all of last week putting the finishing touches to my installation for our family exhibition that opened at The Glorious on Saturday. I spent a lot of time knitting a very small jumper and even longer labelling everything. Here are the pictures of Everything I Have Ever Lost. 

The theme and title for the exhibition is Horror Vacui. Originally a Latin phrase, meaning fear of the void, it is the act of filling of every possible surface. My mum, brother and I all explored our own fear of the void; producing completely different results. My own fear of the void was to do with loss of objects/places/people. You can see my statement above but for slightly easier viewing here it is in plain text:

I face my fear of the void by imaging everything that I have ever lost, reunited. My greatest hope is that on reaching the void familiar faces, clothes, homes and hats, will greet me; no longer will they be left on trains, owned by someone else or lying in the gutter but instead clustered together just waiting to be found. Loss is a feeling many have experienced. It can be extremely frustrating, sometimes life-changing and 

sometimes it can pass by with little consequence. Mostly though it is sad, one can often worry ‘what has become of that poor lost thing?’ 

I have spent many hours wondering this and here are the results; my lost things reimagined, 

all safe and sound and remembered as they were the last time that I saw them.

Most things are trivial and have left little impression on my life: loose change, hats or pot plants. However, other things have left greater voids: my Dad, homes, Arty the Scottish Deerhound. Remembering lost things offers a solace in the darkest moments; losing something no longer feels sad but instead a joy, in that I know it will join the other lost things and one day I too shall join them. All these things may be lost but they are not forgotten.

I re-created my lost things in a variety of mediums. Here's a list of all the lost things:

Moyne Park

Trennick Row

Zanzig

Stuart the Caravan

Owls House

Bohermore 

Arty the Scottish Deerhound

My Granny

My Aunty Bar

Harriet, Henrietta and Henry the Goldfish

Loose change

£100

Every photograph I took from 2008-2013

My Irish Accent

Cacti

The Gremlin

Faux fur hat

Straw boater

Blankie

Fisherman’s Jumper

My Marbles

My Dad

Capri the Cacti

Red lipstick x 2

Dizzy the Canary

Easter eggs

Gruffalo mug

Candy watch

Jade plant

The Chickens 

Blue glass vase

Pink floral mug

My passport

Socks

Green glass

Smelly donkey

Joni Mitchell record

Foliage plant

Edward the Rat

Flat Ted's red trousers

Claddagh ring

Lapis Lazuli ring

Blue ring

Pink horn rimmed glasses

Round glasses

My treasure box

Debs Bear's suitcase

Harry Potter book

Valley of the Dolls book

Floral mug

Iphone

Marz badge

Mobile phone

Graphite pencil set

Pentel pen

Orange wine glass

Blue embroidered wedges

 There are certainly more things to be added to this list but it's a work in progress. I'd love to know about your lost things (good and bad). Making this work has prompted me to take stock of the things/people/places in my life now and appreciate everything that I haven't lost, I hope that it might do the same for the viewer. 

You can visit the exhibition, Horror Vacui, at The Glorious from 8-6 Monday-Saturday and 10-4 on Sundays. 

On another note I recently did two interviews. The first for The Glorious' blog about Horror Vacui which you can read here and another more general one about my practise for Om Pom Happy which you can read here. Look out for my home which will also make an appearance later in the week on Om Pom Happy.

You can also read a review of our exhibition here.

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