SARAH MAY TAYLOR
Concrete Lolita
My work often looks to examine rituals of the life-death-rebirth cycle that is at the heart of female/human resilience and full realizations of becoming. This project is attempting to examine a psychological dimension of the way it feels to take up space, be seen, and survive. I want to reference a liminal psychological and physical space, which looks at transformation but also a desire to simply remain. I am looking to work with materials new to my practice, in this case concrete and glass, to build a body and a space for it to exist, one which points to celebration and strength but also fragility and despair.
There is something attractive about the history that comes with concrete and its relationship to materiality as a way to create structure and build something that has a foundation. These things might be easier to hold onto.
Concrete has the potential to be moulded into a dynamic form, which with reinforcements can cover distances and height. Concrete is the material of skyscrapers and has the ability to respond to cultural as well as environmental concerns, which may make it essential for survival in the future.
There are also interesting connections between concrete and many displaced people, especially women and children, across the world. Many refugees are forbidden from creating ‘homes’ of these materials so they won’t inhabit foreign lands too long. Conversely people who are forced from their homelands often reject the idea of creating a dwelling from durable materials for fear of them taking roots and somehow preventing a safe return.
These materials can be analogous to human skeletons, tissue and skin that form a body’s specific shape.
How does the body mirror our psychological experiences? Fall apart? Continue to move through time? What does it look like to balance things? Right them?
What lasts?
