Luggage... Not Baggage

This post has info about an exhibition I was in at PCL Exhibitionists in 2000.


Luggage... Not Baggage PCL Exhibitionists
August 15 - September 2, 2000 - PCL celebrates its 100th show

Rodney Love, Richard Morecroft, Jo Kot, Peta Morris, Sophie Gralton, David Sayer, Lesley Turnbull, Joan Rabinowitz, Irene Kindness, Julie Byrnes, Sarah Bishop, Elizabeth Wadsworth, Gabriella Hegyes, Deb Morrell, Dominique Downing-Hickey, Vanessa Forbes, Lyndal Campbell, Jo Tracy, Gwenda Hall, Izette Felthun, Yan Fletcher, Gail Joy Kenning, Alexandra Gray

Here is an installation shot, coming in the front door of the gallery:

This is the second room, with my work on the left:

My work includes the two sculptures on the floor, and the hanging bags in the middle:

This work was called In Darkness My Heart Was Won. Click on the 'chopsticks' link at the bottom of the post to see other works in this series. I'm not sure whose painting is on the wall behind my work, but they go quite well together:

This was another reworking of the hair dolls that have featured in a number of previous posts (here, here and here). It was called The Part That Wants Beauty To Suffer. I think I made this soon after the massacres in East Timor. It was supposed to be reminiscent of mass graves, and bodies found in burnt-out buildings.

These works all ended up with questions as titles: Just What Is It That Makes Today's Boys So Different, So Appealing? What Is It To Be Human? Why Prolong The Agony? What Price Love? I think the white bag is Why Prolong The Agony? but I'm not sure why. What Price Love? is the work on the right. It was made from acetate sheets with cards sewn in, and assembled into a bag. Each of the cards had the name of someone I'd "met" and we'd swapped numbers. It has since been destroyed, and I don't think I have any close-up shots:

This is What Is It To Be Human? It's made from human hair sandwiched between sheets of flywire, and sewn together. The handles are made from plaited artificial hair. Hmmm... Further research suggests that this is actually Why Prolong The Agony? The white one with fake fur on the outside and woven Gladwrap on the inside must be What Is It To Be Human? It still doesn't make any sense!

This is Just What Is It That Makes Today's Boys So Different, So Appealing? I've used the same title a couple of times.



Here are some shots of me getting the work installed. The chopstick sculpture is placed on a square of sand, and I had to sift it onto the floor to make it even and smooth: