Tuesday 22 November 2011

PRACTICE: The Childhood Hideaways

At some point, we have all draped blankets across our bedroom, or the living room to create our own dens and spaces. It seems to be a common childhood activity from our memories, building our own escapes. Tents, and dens and small spaces that we use to transport us to a different place. Our imagination was able to take us to a parallel space than the one we created. I love that idea that we instinctively create spaces for ourselves, trying to mould and change the world to fit us, rather than trying to make ourselves fit into the world. This type of innocent play and exploration slowly leaves us as we mature. It's very reminiscent of stories like "The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe", how our need for imagination powers our world. I feel like it's something very rooted in my interests. Remembering the love I had for creating spaces of my own out of anything I could find, bed sheets, curtains, duvets, pillows, just to create my own hideaway, my own escape, my own space and world.

The Hiding Place (1998) by Bjore Bjarre

In a way I suppose that is still what I am hoping to capture in my work, that same childlike wonder and curiosity for building spaces and playing within them. I think that it is nice to be reminded of a safe haven we liked to keep as children, and even now we are still moulding the world to try and fit round us as best we can.

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