At the above
Level 1, 198 Gertrude St
Fitzroy, 3065
Australia
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Salt is renowned as one of seven necessities in Chinese proverb; in conjunction with firewood, rice, oil, soy sauce, vinegar and tea. The character for salt, 盐is comprised of 3 constituent parts; 土, of the earth, 卜, divination and 皿, dish. Harvested from the earth in crystalline form, salt is extracted from a constellation of elements; filtered from vast seas, pulled from pristine lakes, scooped from wells, extricated from the sands of empty sea beds, scraped from crimson rocks in hollowed caves. In response to this exhibition, Angie Pai uses the metaphor of salt as a conceptual basis for her material explorations across painting, sculpture, textiles and video. The process of reduction and transformation is expressed across various mediums, forming a series of aesthetic meditations on home, labor and love.
Anna Fiedler’s wire weavings evoke the bodily form of the torso; its structure and suppleness, its symmetry and malleability. The body, however, is also an idealised form – constrained in the social imagination by moral and aesthetic values. What we see and feel through these weavings is the tension of holding in, and of letting go. The sensation of relaxing and digesting. The restriction of the waist and the loosening of the stomach, its protrusion. The body absorbs salt to contract and relax the muscles. A subconscious daily act.
