Exquisite bodies

An installation of foam blocks with a large modular painting in the background. Two men are assembling a structure from the foam blocks in the mid ground.

This project was commissioned by The Art Gallery of Western Australia, generously supported by Creative Australia and Healthway and was made in close collaboration with curator Lilly Blue.

Disability is not a sexy adjective. The word conjures up images of hospitals, concessions made and thoughts of what could have been. As a child in the 90’s, disability was absent from the media outside of the Paralympics and the occasional human interest story. The closest thing disabled people had to counter culture role models were characters in cartoons. Mutants and the misfits in these animated worlds had super powers and were loved – not in spite of their differences but because of them.

It can be argued that we’ve progressed and these days there is a much more nuanced idea of what it means to have a disability. However, the word is still there and still evokes those same thoughts of pity, fear and unease.

Drawing on that childhood nostalgia the surrealist game Exquisite corpse is a point of departure for this work. The beauty of this imaginative game lies in the stratification of ideas and characteristics that create wholly unique and surprising figures. I find that the best way to engage an audience with difficult topics is through play and participation so using a children's game to create an expanded framework to allow people the freedom to explore seems like a logical progression.

Expanding on my recent work inviting participation with large sculptural forms to create experiential works, this exhibition challenges the able bodied to navigate a world that is uncomfortable by design while celebrating the beauty and value of different bodies and abilities.

This project consisted of three core parts.

  1. Casually asking questions about casualties (life lessons). Aluminium, birch ply, waterproof MDF, acrylic paint. 10350mm x 3600mm x 100mm.
    A large scale, modular wall work that adapts to fit the space.

  2. Exquisite bodies. EVA foam. Dimensions variable, 360 constituent parts. A series of waterjet cut foam shapes that are activated by visitors to the gallery

  3. An accumulative and communal wall work based upon the traditional mechanics of the game Exquisite Corpse and using visitors drawings to create a shifting 2D installation of unique and surprising bodies.

    December 2022-March 2024

    The Art Gallery of Western Australia. All photos credit Lousie Coghill.