on EST (we ARE)

Pictures from my exhibition "on EST (we ARE)".

Present Pasts

Is this goodbye?

Timelessness

New Work/ Halfway House

Here are some new works:

The Halfway House honours exhibition opened last Thursday night- some really wonderful work-lots of sculptural installations. My work "we're hAIR apart" won a Barry Keldoulis prize. The work itself is two balloons- one big and round hovering in the air attempting to escape from the other balloon which has deflated. They are attached by 4 metres of braided asian hair.

Braiding the hair for "we're hAIR apart"


"we're hAIR apart" in my studio.

At the opening.

Halfway House

It's been some time since I've last posted, I've been quite busy to say the least with applications and invitations/press release.  I also applied for the William Fletcher Grants and the National Youth Art Portrait Prize so we'll see how that goes.

This month is busy with 4 shows:

I was in a group show 'Black and White' Feva Fundraiser last Fri-Sat which was wonderful. 3 works sold and I bought a few works to add to my growing art collection.

'Halfway house' - the honours group show is being opened this Thursday by Barry Keldoulis at COFAspace, and I've created an installation titled "we're hAIR apart" for it. I'll post some pics up soon.

Then there's the Waverly Youth Art Prize in a couple weeks that I'll have a work in.

And finally "on EST (we ARE)" in 3 weeks:

‘on EST (we ARE)’ 

A SOLO EXHIBITION BY MELANIE BOREHAM

KUDOS GALLERY 

9-20 JUNE 2009

OPENING TUESDAY 9 JUNE, 5-7:30PM

 

 

LOCKS OF HONESTY: 

AN ARTIST’S AFFAIR WITH HAIR

 

In her first major solo show ‘on EST (we ARE)’, young Sydney artist Melanie Boreham taps into something raw, something experienced by us all-our own vulnerability. The exhibition consists of a human hair installation and over 50 portraits created in the last 2 years, in which she has cleverly combined various methods of textiles, painting and drawing; engaging with the different dimensions of surface tactility. 

 

Hair, with its rich connotations has become the focus of Boreham’s current practice. Undertaking an Honours degree at the College of Fine Arts this year, she is working on a multi-disciplinary installation using disembodied human head hair to expose the dysfunctionality of our society’s relationships. For this exhibition she has composed an installation using various bundles of hair suspended from red balloons. The length and manipulation of the hair acts as a record of severed bonds.

 

Within her series of portraits, Boreham wrestles with our disconnection and desensitisation from one another, as we cannibalistically consume images and forget those represented. This is evidenced everyday in our urban environment, when simply walking down the street. No one smiles, eyes do not meet, and words are not spoken. Anything to the contrary is deemed out of the ordinary and curiously startles us. By painting and drawing these people, which are both friends and anonymous subjects, she attempts to confront and reconnect humanity with itself.  Her figures resist dismissal as their eyes reverse the gaze back onto the viewer.

 

Boreham recognizes that people often use their hair to construct a particular identity and emphasises this in her portraits through elaborate hairstyles sewn with wool. By forcefully stressing this act of defining an identity, she ensures that these people will not recede into a crowd that one can easily forget.

 

After having exhibited in nearly 20 group shows and awards, Melanie is proud to present this collection of works, which encapsulate a side of the human condition that we all can identify with.

 

Kudos Gallery

6 Napier St Paddington, Sydney.

Open Wed-Fri 11-6pm, Sat 11-4pm, Mon and Tues by appointment only.

Hope you can all make it...it's going to be great! I'll be spending the next 3 weeks working full-time on the balloon installation.

'on EST (we ARE)' Solo Show

My proposal for a solo show "on EST (we ARE)" at Kudos Gallery has been accepted! The show will run for two weeks from the 9-20 June. Finally the day has come for me to show all my Stitched in Space works. Ever since I started the series, I have been very anxious about parting with any of the works before they were exhibited all together as a family, as I felt they shared such a strong bond, that detached from this community they would suffer.

I'll also be showing my Fluidity series, and other drawing/oil portraits. I haven't done a portrait for 2 months (a long time!) so I might start working on new series for the show.

'on EST (we ARE)' is a show about humanity's increasing vulnerability and our cannabilistic attitude to images, particularly of humans. In the works, I have attempted to depict a raw humanity, yearning for meaning, in order to confront an audience on their mirroring vulnerability.

'on EST, French for 'we are' becomes 'honest' when pronouced in English. This honesty should be irresistable, as with the claim that these people exist-they 'are'. But this isn't always the case.

StarGazing and SpiderWebs

My Stitched in Space 'gaze' portraits at Hardware Gallery.


A close-up of Clare, Jess and Rachel.

We had the artist talks at Hardware Gallery today from 3-5, and I met some really interesting artists. We talked about our practices and it was fascinating how everyone approaches art, from their methodology, to their techniques, to their thoughts; to end up with a final product-an artwork. And whilst doing my research on other artists, I have begun questioning everything-why they chose that material over another, what it symbolises to them, why they placed it there, why that colour, why that orientation, why this, why that. And due to my current project being driven conceptually, I find that this questioning of every finite detail is being echoed in my work. Everything has meaning and to neglect this truth is like neglecting an artwork.

I have several works that I have spent days and nights sketching out and thinking over, such as a door-mat of felted hair, placed outside the space, that people must walk on in order to enter the space. I started felting this week-also a lot of fun, but it requires a lot of hair and I need more of it!

In the midst of all of this, a very talented artist friend of mine has been webbing his mark out the front of my house. This spider has been making spider webs just under a meter in diameter, on my path between my door and gate. It's actually been rather wonderful. My family has been bending right down to avoid breaking the web and in so doing cover themselves with the sticky fibres. We have gone a few days without touching it, however as I have been observing, if the web is torn down, it is up again by the next day, in another fabulous formation. Thus after having destroyed it today, I expect to see another one tomorrow. It's a reminder that these creatures exist, that we humans aren't the only ones here!



My talented spider's creation. There's a lot for me to learn about his intricate technique!

Weaving with hair, dinner for two

I learnt how to weave yesterday, and fell in love.
Here are some shots of my studio- it continues to change.


Hairy business.


Dinner for two in progress...




Weaving with long asian human hair on the loom.

Isn't this amazing- all the various types of hair.

A project I'm working on of me and my sisters. I've removed our faces (that which identifies us) and replaced it with 3 shades of hair.

My first hair weaving-there's a dread in there!

Tighter weaving.

Hanging...

The incredible loom.

Multiple glad wrap covered bundles of hair.

Close up of pocket with hair coming out.

Jenny Birt Award and Stargazing Exhibitions

My works in the Jenny Birt Award, from the 'Stitched in Space' (07-09) series.

Tonight was the opening for the Jenny Birt Award. I felt really honored to be exhibiting amongst such talented artists whose work I really admire. I have 4 works in the show, created over 2007-8, 4 of my favourite works from my Stitched in Space series. I received a lot of great feedback, and overall it was a wonderful night with lots of people and great food/drinks- thank you CoFA! The show runs Tues-Thurs this week from 10-4pm, if you couldn't make the opening, it's worth the ride over to CoFA.

And on Saturday I had 3 works in "StarGazing" at Hardware Gallery. Another splendid exhibition, a pleasure to be a part of. The gallery space is really beautiful which makes such a difference, and the works I felt really complemented each other. The show runs until the 18th April (open hrs Tues-Sat 11-5pm). Check it out!

I'll try upload shots of the show, as soon as I get some.

My work is progressing, I haven't been able to stop my brain from thinking, it's on constantly and although it's tiring, it's exhilerating having so many ideas. I've got a few film projects I'm hoping to get off the ground as soon as I find people who have long hair- a difficult task. People tend to cut their hair in different shorter styles, or pay hundreds to get extensions on their already short hair -love the extremes, however it's not helping me out. I find myself staring at people with long hair, trying to locate these rare individuals. In fact, today whilst on the bus to uni, I saw the same woman I'd seen yesterday at Central, who was rather distinctive with her long red hair. It would've been at least 60cm, just gorgeous.

My work is currently looking at disembodied hair being representative of the various consequences of relationships breaking down. Although this is predominantly a symbolic conceptual link, it is also a literal one where there is tendency for people to cut/restyle/dye their hair after a breakup. It is a sort of cleansing of oneself, through the physical act of removing the time/length of hair spent with someone else. It seems almost to be inherent. It's really fascinating. Psychology will help inform me on the different reactions people experience in relationship breakups.

It's looking good- I'm getting a better understanding on the many ways that hair can be manipulated. It's a medium with a never-ending potential.

Experiments with hair

Here are some more experiments I have been working on with hair:





















Studio installation shot.



A mobile created from hair structures of short hair bonded together with spray glue in fairly thin mats.

Mat of hair sticking to window, can see the sky-different angles/different backdrops.

Installation shot of several hair mats.




Fairy lights in suspending structure that can be moved up and down with 2 pulley systems. Also long beautiful healthy asian hair hanging on wall that I received from a student Cassie who'd been saving it for nearly 20 years.

New blog- new work

Finally I begin!

For some time now I've been wanting to write about my art practice with images, so that in a sense, I can track how the process unveils itself both for myself and others. My website http://www.melanieboreham.com/ is currently featuring only finished work; however my practice is as much about the journey as about the end result, thus a blog seems to be a good way of encapsulating this journey.

I've just come back from 10 weeks overseas in Europe (France, England, Austria, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Stwitzerland, Czech Republic, Belguim, Spain) and China (Shanghai) where my eyes were quite literally opened up to a whole new world. I was engaged by art- a beautiful thing to experience. Although I came across all different genres and mediums, I was particularly taken by the installations I saw.

To name a few: Richard Serra's "The Matter of Time" which I sang to and received resounding echoes in return and Cy Twombly's "Nine Discourses on Commodus" which presents the gradual progression of madness over 9 paintings, both at the Gugghenheim in Bilbao. Cornelia Parker's "Thirty Pieces of Silver" at the Tate Modern- hanging silver constellations. Damien Ortega's "Champ de Vision"- a clever camera obscura installation at the Centre Georges Pompidou (where I spent 5 days) ... I could go on forever, instead I'll include these great works as they become relevant to my work.

This year I am studying Honours at CoFA and after all this inspiration, I have decided to create a multi-disciplinary installation work. I'll be exploring sculpture, textiles, film, photography, lighting and sound with human hair as the literal thread connecting all these art forms. It's really exciting, because despite being drawn towards mixed media art, my practice has mainly been painting and drawing. Blessed I am to have friends/contacts who work within these other areas who can teach me how to use them to their full potential (slightly idealistic I realise)!

So, hair... It's a complex medium, subject and symbol. Many artists have used hair in their work, to explore a number of different issues. Currently I am focusing on disembodied hair as a metaphor for our own conscious or unconscious disembodiment (separation) from ourselves, others, God and the environment. The hair is being sourced from hairdressers, friends, myself and anyone who replies to the many posters I have stuck up around campus. I am not so much interested in the individuals represented in the hair, as I am about the audience who will encounter the work. In effect, this installation will revolve around a physical journey in a physical space to engage the audience in other spaces they might be disconnected from including psychological and metaphysical spaces. How to achieve this link will be my great task!

Here are some images (already slightly dated) of what I have been working on:

A 2m dread (made from scratch) that I've coiled and hung from the ceiling.

Some other dread experiments.

A studio shot of collected hair (I've since received more!!!)

My sorting jars of hair- yes once I collect bags full, I then must seperate the hair from other hairs- a difficult and dirty task.

Hair strands I've bunched together and pinned down using aluminium. I've nailed through the centre so I can hang them in some sort of chandeleer.

A big lump of hair that resembles a chicken (?)

Another block of hair with multi-coloured layers.

A ring made of hair tightly twisted and coiled with red string.

A plaited bracelet of hair.

A dread bracelet.

Mountain like hollow hair pieces, that have since been sewn together.

For the last 3 years I've been seeing faces everywhere. These aren't illusions as I can point them out to others. This is a photo I took in Salzburg of a tissue on the floor that formed a face, which I've added hair to. I'm thinking of doing a series of faces found in the landscape, as they are anonymous.

A picture of myself with a 3m dread that I'd connected to my own hair

Another picture of my long dread with a projection of a netted bag over me.