My Wonder Box exhibited at Fitzroy House - an old Gilbert Scott private lending library - is an extension of my Window of Wonder in the High Street - see previous post....
It is called The Untenanted Room - from The Little Bookshop at the end of the World...and it invites the viewer to consider further the whole idea of cabinets of Curiosities in 2023. We are now in a crisis - being reminded that we are just part of the natural world, not onlookers viewing, and collecting, displaying curiosities to be marvelled at, consumables to be collected.
We are part of a marvellous universe that is all around us if we know how and where to look, but which is in dire need of protecting and being encouraged to flourish,
My box celebrates the beauty of decay - a natural part of the life-cycle - whilst reflecting on the emptying of the living world, the dessicating effect of numbering and categorising of all parts of it - including us, people, tribes of all kinds... with old photographs of dead specimens papering the outside of the box.
The texts are from a long poem sequence The Untenanted Room by James Simpson, with whom I have worked for the last 20 years on many Artists Book projects.
The exhibition is open weekends from 12 - 4 from 30th September until Saturday 28th October
