SOUL. EXHIBITION

'TRACES OF CONNECTION'

‘Traces of Connection’ is a multi-sensory exploration of human connection – its formation, dissolution, and lingering effects.

Across three interconnected works, the viewer is invited to reflect on the emotion and psychological strings that bind and shape us.

From the merging and separation of clay to suspended body-like vessels holding soul-like forms, the works look at how relationships shape us, leaving emotional marks.

The rope installation makes visitors physically navigate a dense web of rope, symbolising the emotional terrain we must move through in life.

Through tactile materials and spatial experience, the work invites reflection on the vulnerability, tension and memory held within every connection.

PART 1: VIDEO PERFORMANCE 

This video performance blurs the line between conceptual and abstract art – anchored in meaning, expressed through form. Within the video, you see two souls be encased in their vessels then connected by a web of string. After they become one, you see the connection die as the string is slowly removed. They return to the individual state of which they began, however they are left with the impressions of the connection that was previously there.

Through using the visual language of form, texture and transformation, the video performance has an abstract quality, where people are not literally depicted but their emotional states and relationships, through material and gesture.

Materiality was a carefully considered, intentional choice. Clay connotes malleability and impressionability, giving it a human-like nature. Furthermore, string resembles connection and entanglement. The materials create a physical narrative that expresses intangible emotional experiences. The use of clay and string stands metaphorically for human connection, entanglement and the emotional residue left behind. This speaks directly to the core themes in conceptual art and performance art, as well as aspects of abstract symbolism.

PART 2: INSTALLATION

The installation is a continuation of the video piece, developing the themes of identity, embodiment, and connection in a more spatial, immersive way.

Evolving from the time-based video performance, into a physical environment allows the viewer to experience the emotional terrain rather than observe from a distance.

Up-close, the viewer will see the evocative use of chicken wire and tights, materials that were once raw, domestic, and bodily. The use of tights is intended to resemble skin, creating a tension between vulnerability and containment. Within the organically shaped, chicken wire sculptures, the suspended soul suggests the inner life housed within the fragile vessels. This reflects our internal fragility of which we protect and try to hide from the external world.

The ropes add another layer to the piece, referencing the visible or invisible connections that pull us together or apart.

Conceptually, this installation expands upon the video performance piece by not just exploring the formation and undoing of connection, but also the architecture of self and soul – what holds us, what defines us, and how our interior and exterior are shaped by connections built and lost in relationships.

PART 3: THE ROPE ROOM

The rope room transforms the more abstract and symbolic elements of the video and sculptural work, making it into a fully immersive experience.

It invites the audience to physically navigate through the space, making them feel the complexity, tension, and entanglement of human connection, rather than just observing it.

The act of moving through the rope is metaphorical as every decision, hesitation or obstacle reflects the lived reality of navigating relationships – some ropes may feel supportive, others restrictive or confusing.

The shift in work to interactivity is significant as it externalises ideas explored through performance and sculpture into a lived, collective experience. It emphasises that connection is not passive but something we actively engage with and are shaped by.