Thus the house is not experienced from day to day only, on the thread of a narrative, or in the telling of our own story. Through dreams, the various dwelling-places in our lives co-penetrate and retain the treasures of former days. (Bachelard, The Poetics of Space, 27)
It is the nature of human beings to search for a corner of the world where they belong. A place that offers safety, comfort and belonging. Personal space is the invisible bubble surrounding humans, allowing access to a selected few. Home is an extension of the unseen perimeter we carry with us where we go. It is filled with objects, memories and people that are a part of our narrative. Home is the container of our human experiences. Dwelling places of the past remain with us forever. Good or bad, we remember events as contained within an occupied space. However, home does not evoke the same feelings in every person. Some may experience home as a cage with no room to move. Is home purely a perception? Does the view of home change depending on the filter we look through? Is home a combination of place, objects and people?
As immigrants to Australia, Cielle and Annelize explore the inevitable questions and longing that stems from leaving home. It becomes apparent that home is not contained within a building, it extends far beyond any conceivable space and time. Searching for a sense of belonging and trying to grasp hold of memories that are fading, the two artists explore the notion of home from different perspectives.
Objects are important in Annelize’s work. Family heirloom furniture are re-contextualized in a poetic manner. Focusing on the ability of objects to transcend space and time in an instant. Each object embodies a weight of memories ingrained through time. Questions surrounding the validity of objects as recollection triggers arise. The intrinsic weight of objects ground the human and assist in the growing roots, even if they are just temporary.
Cielle’s ephemeral quality in her translation of home suggests the search for the sacred and the sublime within the mundane of the everyday. Representing the domestic as personal perception and evoking an awareness of personal viewpoint. Human beings relive memories, especially of happiness. We search for our corner of the world, it can be anywhere and with anyone.
Home allows us to immerse into conversant memories and bask in the shelter it offers. The container filled with objects, people and the memories associated with them wraps us up in a space that is timeless. We are forever searching and recollecting. Paging back and forth through our book of life reading and dreaming of what had passed and hope for what comes next.
Artists: Annelize Mulder and Cielle Jansen van Vuuren
Dates: Wednesday, 1 April – Saturday, 18 April 2015
Opening Event: Thursday, 2 April 2015, 6 – 8 pm
Artist Talk: Wednesday, 15 April 2015, 12 – 1 pm
Venue: WEBB Gallery, QCA, 226 Grey Street, South Bank
Gallery Hours: 10 am – 4 pm, Tuesday to Saturday (please note the Gallery will be closed Friday 3 April & Saturday 4 April due to the Easter public holidays)
Image credits: Annelize Mulder, Neither here nor there 2014, wooden bed frame, cotton fabric and video still, 1.2m x 2.8m.
