Ariana Preston
Exhibiting from Saturday, 9th July 2011
Untitled (Den 2)
My piece is located in the Kitchen of Wallington Hall: a tent made out of sourced archive and vintage fabrics and wood, reminiscent of a child’s den or hiding place. Found objects such as photographs and books hide inside the piece, as well as remnants of my own studio practice. The piece suggests displacement, a collection of objects disturbed and out of place.
The context for this is from researching the biography of William Bell Scott, and the fact that his childhood years were marked by the death in infancy of four of his siblings. I wanted to touch on ideas of memory, loss and childhood, which also link in to the history of the house itself, in particular the fact that evacuees were sent there during the war. I was fascinated by the concept of childhood games and rituals, and the fact that these can seem mysterious and strange to an outsider.