Verge

I recently took advantage of an opportunity open to CAS Associate Artists to takeover the gallery space at St Mary’s Chapel, Andover, Hampshire. I used the Chapel for a week to test and document new work that is concerned with the life of the verge. The journey to and from Andover along the major trunk roads A303, A34 and A31 helped inform the work that has been brewing for a while. Materials were found along the way.

The verge is an undefined space and the hinterland of the corridors along which we rush. It is between the countryside and the road. What goes on there is only fleetingly glimpsed out of the corner of an eye and soon forgotten. The work begins to explore imagined futures for the inhabitants of this liminal space and it starts with the juxtaposition of materials. These materials are both industrial and domestic, ranging from discarded steel road sign A-frames, fencing wire and plastic cones to pillowcases doubling as sandbags. What is glimpsed in passing sets up curious resonances and possibilities. Domestic detritus meets the industrial in accidental assemblage.

The experience of the daily drive coupled with arriving at the Chapel via the surrounding Andover Cemetery also drew attention to glimpsed roadside tributes. These are ubiquitous and anonymous for the passing motorist. Often there is nothing left of the bouquet of flowers but the plastic wrapper and cable tie. Just a shred of plastic that endures as a reminder of strangers’ grief. In the cemetery, many of the floral tributes are plastic, faded and fallen over, but are allowed time for consideration and attribution. My response to these is a group of wall mounted ‘bouquets’ made from plastic waste I have collected from my walks in the ‘unspoilt’ South Downs National Park. I wanted them to look as ‘pathetic’ as those roadside shreds whilst relating to the freestanding assemblages I was working on.

I tried hard not to clutter the Chapel too much with materials as it was such a joy to have an empty space to work with. As a result there was a lot of making and unmaking done over the week as well as transporting materials to and fro. In the end I had three distinct interrelated freestanding pieces along with the wall hung bouquets. I was able to use the roof high bar to suspend some elements from which made the work a response to the specific space but also suggests possibilities for subsequent iterations and outdoor installation.

In addition, the residency was an opportunity to test the use of a soundscape with the work. I’ve been making field recordings for a while of my own footsteps, birdsong and traffic noise. These have been layered into a soundscape in which the traffic noise ends up drowning everything else out. Playing it in the space was really exciting, somehow adding a powerful contextual element to the work. The video documentation of the installation uses that soundscape as it was played in the space. Follow the link below.

https://vimeo.com/935374744

Link to website https://axisweb.org/artist/lizclifford