Wavelengths a Novel Exhibition on Virginia Woolf

Current project, Wavelengths-Virginia Woolf.  I was asked to join an exhibition which was already underway, so I had less time than the other artists to get going on this. Although the work is complete I'm writing this page to show the process of it coming together. Reading her novels and finding a connection with my practice was a bit of a challenge to begin with.  Her writing is very much a stream of consciousness and following the narrative is quite difficult.  I found that listening to an audio book was much easier, mainly because the narrator knew which character was speaking/thinking and adopted a voice for that character.

 

Apart from reading Wolf's work my research into Woolf led to to a book called Virginia Woolf and the Natural World 2011. Each chapter is an essay regarding Woolf's connection to nature, from the way she incorporates the symbolism associated with flowers and plants, to the way her characters experience nature to a chapter charting all the references to plants within her works. This book helped me to connect Woolf to my work, this interest in nature, the connections her characters feel to nature really echoes a concern in my work. These internal commentaries are private and don't impact on the overall narrative of the stories, this strikes a chord with how I see nature as important and yet, trying to be connected to nature at this time seems very difficult.

The photos on this page, from previous projects, explore this idea of connection and separation from nature. Being inside but looking toward nature outside. I would like to build on this idea. In my mind's eye I can see a video of one of these views out of the window, sort of still, but not completely, in the background we can hear activity, ordinary life going on.