This work presents a dialogue on Mourning. ‘Vale’, indicates the announcement of a death, and in this instance can also be linked with ‘goös’[1] (also gooi - the initial shock at a death, and the expression of anguish) as it is referred to in classical Greek texts.

The intention of the work is to communicate loss and emotion – the object does this through the use of multiple lines (copper wire, a conduit) that spill out beyond the boundary and private internal space of the house – sepulchre structure.  Copper is a channel, here emotion cascades down and runs in and out of personal space.  Connected to the sinewy lengths of wire on the inside of the sepulchre are memorial like portraits, these are reminiscent of portraits found on a tomb or personal memento; however the expression on the face of the portrait shares sorrow. Repeated texts, laments about loss are inscribed on the surface of the house; words are about death and are recurring, considered and layered.

The House is finished in graphite and is the heart of the work; it is symbolic of the types of memorial structures that are used to house the dead.

House. (Acrylic, finished in graphite and pigment)

Materials: Copper, Copper leaf, 22ct. Gold Leaf, Acrylic, Graphite, Pigment

Installation, on floor

80 x 50 x 250 cm