Making Space for the Stranger / The Velvet Rope 2019
Helen Angell-Preece’s art practice resides within the threshold. She explores the space between inside and outside, the solid and the void, the body and architecture.
For this exhibition, the artist responds to the unique corner site of the Tatha Gallery, on the bank of the River Tay and the edge of Fife, contemplating the building’s original function as a Coaching Inn, to provide hospitality to the passing Stranger.
The comfort and luxury of velvet and upholstery contrast with the tilting un-homely angle of the floorboards and unbalanced seat, bringing to mind our often ambivalent attitude to welcoming the foreigner within our midst, as well as acknowledging the Stranger within ourselves.
The velvet rope demarcating a space of safety and home for the permitted few, can also act as a suffocating barrier, inhibiting opportunities to see and experience from different angles of vision.
Making Space for the Stranger / The Velvet Rope 2019
Pine Maritime Floorboards, Upholstered Dining Chair, Bannister Posts, Velvet, Upholstery Cord, Screws.
260cm x 100cm x 150cm (length x height x depth)
