The marking of the end of summer has always
been for me the sight of revellers trudging around London’s mainline railway
stations with their muddy Wellington boots and tall backpacks weighing down
their posture, swaying to and fro towards their homebound platform after
another year of festival excess. Swapping the comfort of warmth within four walls for a
sleeping bag and a tent with a mind of its own has grown in popularity year on
year with trends of summer festivals and stay-cations enticing urbanites into
the dark depths of Nature’s womb. For some, camping remains a liberating
exercise, free from inhibition and free from the continuous rhythms of
commercial speech that engulf our urban landscape.
Yesterday evening, with gravity winning over the autumnal leaves, I made my way across the Thames to the opening of Ground Truth by Louisa Fairclough at Danielle Arnaud. Fairclough’s practice has always incorporated elements of analogue since a student at The Slade School of Fine Art in the late nineties and she had introduced me to 16mm and Super 8 film when she returned to the school as a tutor; her approach hearty and physical towards the equipment which was in contrast to my fear of pressing the wrong button and ending up with an empty reel.
Yesterday evening, with gravity winning over the autumnal leaves, I made my way across the Thames to the opening of Ground Truth by Louisa Fairclough at Danielle Arnaud. Fairclough’s practice has always incorporated elements of analogue since a student at The Slade School of Fine Art in the late nineties and she had introduced me to 16mm and Super 8 film when she returned to the school as a tutor; her approach hearty and physical towards the equipment which was in contrast to my fear of pressing the wrong button and ending up with an empty reel.
Bore Song, 2011
With the success of Tacita
Dean’s Turbine Hall installation at Tate Modern there is no question analogue
film is experiencing a renaissance in the public’s perception of contemporary
art. Ground Truth – a geographical term of analogue land verification - consists
of two film and sound installations as well as a series of drawings exhibited
on the first floor of this Georgian terrace gallery. Fairclough, who is now
based in the natural surroundings of Gloucester, has given sound an important
role to play – it is the first sense that welcomes you into the space and it
remains with you throughout the exhibition. Bore Song (2011) is a beautifully
executed 16mm film loop of a young woman surrounded by the water of the River
Severn projected onto a small slice of glass – she opens her mouth to a continuous
piercing note that fills the space, the pitch reminiscent of analogue TV during
midnight hours. In the moments of silence Song of Grief (2011), in the
adjoining space, invites your attention with the same note emitting at
different intervals. Two 16mm projectors face one another; their empty film is suspended and travels up and across the space to create a shimmering installation of white
light and sound, creating a ghost-like and yet embracing atmosphere. Celluloid
film has always possessed an additional layer of attention that the digital lacks. The artist is inherently conscious of exposure, frame and shot and while I have
always respected the medium of film I have never experienced the reaction that
I felt towards Fairclough’s new body of work. Intimate, poignant and raw,
the works invite the viewer to access the artist’s personal expression of grief
for the loss of a sibling as well as an account of her journey to the Severn
by bicycle with her young son - genuine events in one’s life that have been
reinterpreted in beautiful visuals and moving audio.
Ground Truth, 2011
Camping
paraphernalia are the subject of the series of fourteen drawings that
correspond to these bicycle journeys and the nights spent on the
riverbanks under tents and in sleeping bags. The exhibition catalogue written
by art critic and poet Cherry Smyth describes these drawings made of pencil,
spit and watercolour as ‘a softly creeping calendar of grief’ and Smyth’s essay
makes for a wonderful narration of the context behind Fairclough’s Ground
Truth – a journey that began with escape and ended in confrontation across the natural landscape that is analogue in every sense of the word.
Ground Truth will run at Danielle Arnaud until 11th December - visit the gallery's website for further information about the exhibition and opening times. Louisa Fairclough was nominated for this year's Jerwood Drawing Prize and her drawing Ground Truth (2011), named after this exhibiton, is displayed on the first floor.
Ground Truth
4th November - 11th December 2011
4th November - 11th December 2011
Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art
123 Kennington Road
London SE11 6SF
Images courtesy of Danielle Arnaud
