Roland Barthes once said
“to love is always to desire to be loved in return, to have the person whom you love make you feel, by loving you, that you have value.”
This dress is made in collaboration between artist Michelle Hall and Dr Adam Perriman, Senior Research Fellow, Bristol University.
Dr Perriman facilitated access for Michelle Hall to make use of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) where she captured images revealing the composition of felt.
Being a true partnership Dr Perriman trained Michelle to use the SEM in such a way that the materials being scanned were ‘charged’ which resulted in the extreme variations in tone produced in the images. Images of charged particles are generally not accepted in the sciences but here Dr Perriman and
Michelle Hall captured to beauty of the charging process for artistic purposes as they documented the intrinsic nature of felt.
Michelle Hall used the images of felt to create a silk screen. Creating three layer prints of microscopic images of felt onto felt – Michelle Hall reveals the heart of felt. Felt wears its heart on its sleeve. In addition Michelle Hall manipulates the SEM image to resemble a heart. The image is projected onto the dress. In addition there is a heart beat soundscape to accompany the artwork.
The dress is a memento mori for the death of freedom, love and value in situations of violence against women, in a world where so many patriarchal assumptions put women in a position where they are forced to constantly make their feelings apparent as they cope with the constant low level panic which comes from endless resistance.
Michelle Hall’s residency at Bristol University and Aberystwyth Arts Centre was funded by Arts Queensland and The Copyright Agency.
EXHIBITION DATES:
Friday 6 – Tuesday 31 January 2017
Image Credits: Photographs by Paul Possse
