I never usually write such detailed and personal explanations of my work but events surrounding the creation of this new piece have been so bizarre I don't have any choice but to share it.
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A few years ago my mother sent me a package, it contained things I had made for her as a very young boy; pottery figures, wood carvings and a large envelope, in the envelope were a number of drawings, cards and a poem. At the time it was a horrible shock to see it all again, I couldn’t understand why she would give me back things that I had made for her and I found it traumatic being confronted with forgotten memories from so long ago. I put it all away at the back of a cupboard so I didn’t have to think about it.
Fast forward to August 1st 2009 and I am invited by Selavy Oh to create something in his space for the
Brooklyn is Watching Final Five exhibition. I really had no clue what I could do, I played with some ideas and dismissed them all until I placed a boat in the room, I wasn’t entirely sure what it meant at first but it felt right. On one of the walls I hung a photograph of myself as a young boy, again I wasn’t yet sure what it represented.
Arahan Claveau Age 4I knew the space needed something else so I started rummaging around in my cupboards thinking I might find items to scan and upload. There at the back of the cupboard was the envelope my mother had sent years ago, and recalling my adverse reaction to it the first time I hesitantly took out the contents. The first thing I unfolded was a large Mother’s Day card, on the front was a drawing of a sailing boat I had made, very much like the model in the gallery. Just as I was recovering from the shock I looked at another of the drawings and it was of another boat. I have no recollection of being particularly interested in ships or boats as a child, perhaps it is simply a common drawing for a child to make, like a plane, a house, or a flower, but then there was the photo of me as a boy that I’d also placed in the gallery before finding that envelope, so I had already associated boats with my childhood, I just wasn’t consciously aware of it at the time.
It was a strange and unsettling experience and I’m still not sure what to make of it.
Perhaps it means nothing at all.
Monday 3rd August 2009
I was cycling home today and for some reason decided to take a detour from the usual route. I went past the Tate Britain gallery and thought I might as well pop in, I hadn’t been there for many years as I always go to the Tate Modern instead.
So, I was strolling through the gallery, not much was really catching my attention until I stepped into one of the rooms, and there in front of me was a huge sailing boat! I managed to get one shot of it before the guard you can see in the photo insisted I put my camera away.
Ian Hamilton Finlay - Sailing Dinghy 1996On one of the walls was a different piece by the same artist, a simple line of text that read "IDYLLS END IN THUNDERSTORMS."
Now, I can understand finding the Mother’s Day card with the boat on it, I possibly knew that it was in the envelope before I found it, and with the placing of the boat in SL I was making a subconscious connection, but the discovery in the Tate is completely baffling and adds another extraordinary dimension to this sequence of events.
I have not seen Ian Hamilton Finlay's work before but apparently "
Boats and the sea were central themes throughout Finlay’s career."
National Galleries of ScotlandI telephoned my Mother and told her about all this, she said "
it's serendipity."
Adrift is on display from August 7th - 23rd as part of Selavy Oh's curated space
The Final Show.
Teleport to Brooklyn is Watching Final Five exhibition at Odyssey East
here.
Thanks to Selavy for inviting me to contribute to his space, I think the concept for The Final Show has proved to be very clever and effective and I have personally got a lot out of participating.
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