the lost gloves 2007-8
image: Lumsden, Aberdeenshire, Wed 4th April, 11:30 am acrylic on board 21 x 27 cm collection of the artist
description
Three bodies of work by Australian artist, Christine Porter that resulted from her 2007 McGregor Fellowship trip to England and Scotland. The work was shown in two main exhibitions at regional galleries in NSW and Qld in 2008.
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the carelessness of exile 2007 A series of acrylic paintings, 21 x 27 cm on board, the subject being images of the "lost" gloves Christine "found" on her travels. |
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the narrative of incomplete assimilation 2008 A series of cast bronze sculptures, describing the long term implications of the moment of decision making. |
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"not near related but related all the same" 2008 |
artist statement
I travelled on a University of Southern Queensland fellowship in 2007, to England, Scotland and Ireland. This exhibition of new work is a result of how the ideas of colonisation, exile and belonging informed the journey that found me placed where my ancestors had been re-placed from. Amongst other things, as I travelled through that winter-tinged land, I noticed a number of single, lost gloves caught in the eddies of time and place: their forlorn, orphaned state suggesting inevitably the other, absent twin and as they lay there, holding some shape still of the hand that had worn them: tangible evidence of a life lived before. Christine Porter, Lismore 2008
copyright, reproductions and licensing
- The copyright of all content on this website - all pictures and words - is owned by the artist. It is illegal to copy or transmit any image from this site. Please contact us if you wish to see a larger file of any image.
- At the present time Christine is concentrating on selling only original paintings from this series, however please contact us if there is an image you are particularly taken with as this situation may change.
- Christine and Full Moon Publications are happy to discuss appropriate licencing of Christine's images.
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the carelessness of exile
artist statement
If gloves speak of home; those happy well matched families of fashion or protection - then lost gloves speak of that home’s loss: the state of not belonging experienced by the exiled and the state of missing them experienced by those left behind. This work is about the permanent results of the random, almost careless moment - like the accidental death of a family member, or their defection to a new life in a land beyond imagined reality - the sort of experience that renders a single, lost, glove forever homeless. Christine Porter Lismore 2008
installation, exhibitions and sales
The work is presented unframed but mounted on board. It has been shown twice in exhibitions in 2008. Available artwork from this series may be seen in 2011 at Christine's studio/gallery in Lismore (by appointment, 66225733). Contact us for prices or to buy paintings from this series.
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January 2008: I couldn't see the landscape for the fields Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba, Qld. In this exhibition, of which this series of paintings was one of three bodies of work that included the mixed media pieces: walking the Roman wall and the painting series British breeds, the work was installed at eye height, in a row on the wall, with the titles continuing the narrative. |
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April 2008: The carelessness of exile Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah, NSW. This exhibition included the bronze gloves as well as the found object installation (below). In this exhibition space the work was installed again on the walls at eye height, but without attention to the implied narrative of the times in the titles. Instead they were installed to best describe the sense of isolation experienced by the displaced emigrant: the works were separated and spotlit to further the sense of isolation |
the artwork
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Lumsden, Aberdeenshire, Wed 4th April, 11:30 am acrylic on board 21 x 27 cm collection of the artist |
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Electric Avenue, Brixton Markets London, Fri 13th April, 4pm |
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beside the A191, Whitfield rd, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Fri 20th Apr, 1:30pm |
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Dundas st, Edinburgh, Wed 28th Mar, 4:50pm |
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Castle rd, Kintore, Abredeenshire, Sun 8th April, 6:45pm |
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in a lay-by on the A52, between Ashbourne and Derby, Mon 21st May, 6pm |
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Lambeth Bridge, River Thames, London, Thurs 12th April, 3:17pm |
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Portknockie, Banffshire, Sat 7th April, 3:30pm |
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Portknockie, Banffshire, Sat 7th April, 3:32pm |
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Sheepmount Stadium carpark, Carlisle, Fri 27th April, 9:02 am go to the carelessness of exile |
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the narrative of incomplete assimilation
artist statement
I visited the UK generations after my ancestors had left, but there were places, especially in Scotland, that felt instantly familiar. “How long are you home for?” the neighbours there had asked. “How long would I need to be gone, and not belong?” I thought. I saw mirrored back at me my Scot-pale skin, eyes and hair: I heard stories of adventurers, convicts and farmers. The more I read about the people who had come before me the more I wondered: “am I me, or am I merely the sum of all my pasts?” This work is about how emigrant memory is more than its emigration stories (lost gloves, weather worn, still glove-like). Where emigration is not only about crossing the seas, but can equally be about a passage across the other River Styx-like situations that preclude return- like travel, accident or childbirth.
Christine Porter Lismore 2008
installation, exhibitions and sales
The work is presented as free standing sculptures, though being life size they have been exhibited on plinths in galleries. They have been shown twice in exhibitions: once in 2008 and again in 2010. Available artwork from this series may be seen in 2011 at Christine's studio/gallery in Lismore (by appointment, 66225733). Contact us for prices or to buy artwork from this series.
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April 2008: The carelessness of exile Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah, NSW. Included with the lost glove paintings, this work was installed on plinths in the centre of the space deprived of natural light by the installation (below) it was spotlit to emphasise the sense of isolation of the emigrant experiences. |
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March 2010: Narrative Barratt Galleries, Alstonville. This was an exhibition of etchings, but to include in that narrative the way Christine's practices are inter-related, paintings and other artwork were exhibited as well.The work glove bronze was installed on a plinth below the lost glove etching. |
the artwork
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narrative of incomplete assimilation I: the work glove 2008 cast bronze 17 x 10 x 6cm |
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The narrative of incomplete assimilation II: the marriage glove |
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The narrative of incomplete assimilation III: the accident glove |
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installation view:Tweed River Art Gallery, April 2008 the artist and the glove |
go to the carelessness of exile
go to the narrative of incomplete assimilation
go to "not nearly related but related all the same"
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“not near related but related all the same”
artist statement
Frances Shekelton (nee Porter), from BallyJamesDuff in Ireland and Frances Ross Porter, my paternal great-grandmother, share a name and a birthplace - though a century apart. Frances and she were indeed cousins, Mrs Shekelton told us; “not near related” she said, “but related all the same”. In a place where names are a currency of belonging; we were welcomed - one hundred years ago Frances Porter wasn’t. Exiled for love (family legend tells) she settled in Lismore, but eventually became just a name in a sentence in a chapter in a history of this area.
This work is about the impact of emigration on all of Australia’s history: each glove standing in for each person that I’m related to by blood or marriage in this area alone, describing the wealth of emigration narratives in each family, those stories hidden and those known. It’s been installed to block the view of the landscape, just as the pain of those exiled, whether by choice or mis-choice, obscures the beauty of the current landscape, just outside their window.
installation and exhibition
April 2008: The carelessness of exile Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah, NSW. This was a site specific installation, made for the McNaughton Gallery space at the Tweed River Art Gallery. The tall windows at the Tweed River Art Gallery look out over the beautiful Tweed Valley. They allow for slivers of light and view to be a part of the installed artwork inside the gallery space. The installation of this work blocked that view except for the occasional tantalising shards of light that indicated there was more beyond the wall.
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"not near related but related all the same" (details) 2008 found objects in wooden and perspex boxes |
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go to the carelessness of exile
go to the narrative of incomplete assimilation
go to "not nearly related but related all the same"