back GALLERY: Edwina Cooper (sa) - Out of Breath
The focus of my practice has encapsulated the lineage of our attempts at fathoming oceanic space and human contrived spaces for engaging with and quantifying this otherwise foreign body of water. Out of Breath is an immersive installation piece, responding to oceanic surface as a threshold and our vulnerability as humans when submersed.
In 2018, I spent 8 days sailing the South Australian coastline from Adelaide to Port Lincoln on a 38 foot cruising sailing vessel. Out of Breath is strongly influenced by this embodied sailing experience. On a physical level, it aims to re-present the scale of a confused sea state/ looking at the wave height and fetch experienced on this voyage. However, more specifically, the installation aims to place the spectator in the centre of oceanic phenomena - to shift away from their stable viewing position by being on the ‘wrong’ side
of the threshold of ‘air’ and ‘water’. By venturing beyond our natural means, and finding ourselves submersed and out of air, when is it that we realise the power of this life-force and our inferiority in the face of oceanic immensity?
Image: Edwina Cooper, Out of Breath (studio detail), 2020, reclaimed sailcloth, dyneema, stainless steel fixings, whipping twine, dimensions variable.
FRONT GALLERY: EDWINA COOPER (SA) - PORT-ALL
NOVEMBER 2016
Opening - 5:30 PM - Wednesday, 2nd November
Artist Talks - 6:00pm
Running - 3rd November - 19th November 2016
As a sailor, I am interested in the interactions and translations of human and oceanic space.
The port, as a human construct, acts as an interface between human and ocean, land dwelling and seafaring. However, the ocean’s boundary remains unfixable; where it meets civilisation we make attempts at securing a hospitable space through the construction of ports as sheltered systems. The sea continually attempts to reclaim its fluid boundary. In this sense, our constructs - as an extension of land - share our inferiority in the face of oceanic immensity. Interaction with the port as the gateway to seafaring, enables us to be distanced spectators of oceanic peril, whilst standing on provides a universal comprehension of oceanic experience.
The works in Port-all have been developed in response to research undertaken in the port town of Marseille (France), as a part of my residency at Dos Mares in May/June 2016. More specifically, they consider the notional movement under-foot and cohabitation observed by boats in port, as a tethered floating piece of human space.
Image Courtesy of Dos Mares, Marseille France