… sounds like an oxymoron. Surely an attic is a thing that has to build up over time? To gather organically and mature into something interesting, embarrassing, emotion-filled and deeply personal? Judith A. Mason, Mary Kainer and I attempt to create one in the third floor gallery of the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington. In the downstairs gallery is work we’ve made about being a 60-year-woman. In The Attic we pull together strands that hint at how we became the women we are: books that have influenced: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, Running With The Wolves, Our Bodies Ourselves and, of course, Simone de Beauvoir’s Coming of Age. Old letters, thesis papers and photo albums. A memory quilt, baby’s cradle, engraved tray, immigrating parent’s suitcase, child’s bed, 35-year-old lego set, the ever-lasting Christmas tree. ‘70’s flares, ‘80’s shoulder pads, ‘90s power suits and a wedding dress … or two! The analogue TV with VCR and bunny ears to match. All interwoven with art from days gone by: dangling puppets, creepy climbing dolls, weird ceramic sculptures, life drawings, illustrations, dolls with satin vaginas, folded paper books… This installation is ambitious and I have no idea if it works. Feels like the biggest risk so far.
