Study of the Aura (2020)
Glass, paint, charcoal pigments 150 cm X 190 cm
As an exploration of the figure, this work portrays human beings as having energy. This energy can be perhaps likened to an aura, much like Walter Benjamin explains that artworks have certain auras.
The spectral figures in this work interact with the space of the staircase and corridor: a space that allows the potential to move and alludes to figures being transient, not stagnant. The figural panes of glass also interact with the bodies of the audience through reflections. The figures are depicted in the glass with matte surfaces, roughened by grit and coloured with ink, paint and charcoal pigments. They lean against the wall, not firmly situated in place but with potential energy to leave their situation.
As the figures of the glass move in and out of focus from different angles, we realise the strange presence which figures occupy in their absence. Humans are the marks they have made and the marks they will make – the figures in the glass take forms that resemble shadows (memories), and energy fields (auras/potential).
