Gill, 2020

Silicone, pigment, human hair, plastic, acrylic paint, MDF, metal, fabric, vines, soil

56 x 45 x 26 cm (figure / chair)

Stop Motion Animation, 22 seconds

 

My third-year graduation project inspired by a short film script "Don't Go in the Garden" written by Adam El'Sharawy.

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Gill is a lonely elderly lady suffering from the early stages of dementia. For the majority of her life, she was a talented gardener, being able to bring back to life even the most hopeless of plants. In her latter years, she slowly began to neglect her garden. What was once a vibrant and flourishing space, is now a dark and twisting mess that has come to haunt her. Gill feels a sinister presence from the garden and believes something is trying to get into her home.

 

Like most illnesses of the mind, the early stages are often invisible to an outside observer, but they can be very traumatic for the victim. In my piece, I introduced a dark tree trunk that is being suffocated by hostile crawling vines. Gill cannot see the vines as they hide beneath her floor, representing her slowly decaying life. The growing vines that represent the disease, are slowly creeping up into her reality.

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