OUR BOAT WAS THE LIGHTEST FEATHER
Online
exhibition for SOLV, the Netherlands
1st of July 2011 – 1st of January 2012
Publicly from the 15th of July, 2011
The animal features in our work made together in collaboration and otherwise.
It is prominent in its feature and easily detectable, the centre of
our paper stage. Hard to miss, over here and over there, the animal
runs up hills, scales rooftops, and passes through a scene new or more
familiar. It is present, always. For us, the animal is there to question
our very behaviour, those moral principles one governs the self by,
and to explore the relationship with the natural world.
The animal is our protagonist. It is the main character. Gliding through
a scene it is too large to be contained within or perhaps too manmade
to call home, that it has a tail or feathers or furred muzzle is not
solely why its form appears. It is what the animal, our principal on
aforementioned paper stage lit by moon or sun above, is doing that is
where our interest lays. It is the physical act they are caught in,
that is our focus. It is that they do not always fit in with their surrounds,
even though sometimes, sometimes they are hard to see. It is what we
relate to, in part, the act of looking for shelter or safe lodgings,
running home or travelling far. It could be you. You, shown this time
with a tail, but still very much you. They illustrate our traits, and
our longings, those things common to us all.
The animal also illustrates our relationship and fascination with the
natural world. The birds, in Louise's drawings in particular, are depicted
on the page with space for you to determine their landscapes, nest,
or habitat. They are portraits with room for you to decide the setting.
Defined by our environment, by where we dwell, these birds are shown
on but a faint pencil line of a branch, if that.
The drawings and collages in this exhibition, Our Boat was the Lightest
Feather, feature chiefly in the recent zines: The
interloper; Looking and almost
never finding; It was quite a
wilderness; That in the moon
did glitter.
We strive to create beautiful images, but beauty underpinned by certain
sadness, a lack of fit.
(The title of this exhibition we have borrowed from a sentence in Edgar
Allan Poe's A Descent into the Maelström.)
Our
boat was the lightest feather
SOLV.nl
is the premier law firm in The Netherlands that is fully dedicated to
technology, media and communications: TMC. Due to our focus we remain
at the forefront of technical and legal developments. We know the market
as well as we know the law. SOLV works for clients ranging from Internet
start-ups to major international corporations. SOLV is dedicated to
meeting the needs of our clients through a thorough understanding of
their business and the law.
Gracia
Haby & Louise Jennison
On
a clear night such as this I sit and watch the lights
2011
digital collage
