"From The Shadows We Turn" by Talitha Kennedy - Chapman & Bailey

NOW SHOWING:

From The Shadows We Turn
Talitha Kennedy
29.10 – 27.11.2021

From lockdowns spent with intense focus on inner life, Talitha Kennedy’s work feels around in the dark to relate to the peripheral landscape. From The Shadows We Turn presents new sculptures and drawings by Talitha Kennedy together with site responsive assemblages of her black leather soft sculptures in the gallery windows.

Shadowy silhouettes are fleshed out creating a visual tactile narrative of the seen and unseen. A jungle of black leather forms a portal to look through the skin of the visible towards an intimate felt encounter. The forms and textures embody the relationship between humans and the natural world evoking both desire and fear.

Inside are a series of tempting to the touch hand-stitched leather sculptures. Using cow skin tanned and dyed specifically for gloves, these little trees are made to be held in the hand. Here plant is encountered as body, with finger like twigs and fat roll limbs, the skin of the sculpture feels like our own skin.

Approaching drawing from a textile practice informs meditative stitch like mark-making on paper that has been crumpled out of being a pictorial plane. Ink traces the touch of the nib on undulating surfaces revealing an interface of suggested visions such as fleeting shadows or macro/micro landscapes.

With sensitivity to materials and processes, Talitha Kennedy explores the cultural nuances of the organic form. Her work suggests hybrids of body, plant and landscape to bring into question our cultural failure to know ourselves as part of the natural environment.

Above image: Installation Image, From The Shadows We Turn, Talitha Kennedy, Chapman & Bailey Gallery 2021.