Proliferation installation - final days, Gaffa Gallery

Kath Fries, Proliferation, Gaffa Gallery, Sydney. Installation of feathers, dimensions variable and changing daily, from 1st to 13th July 2010. more info

Masses of feathers seemingly bursting out of the corners and cascading over the top of the false wall from a dark cavity beyond.

Feathers creeping across floorboards, trickling out of corners and gaps in the walls, encroaching into the space - interpreted as playful by some and threatening by others.

Proliferation installation - feather details, Gaffa

Kath Fries, Proliferation, Gaffa Gallery, Sydney. Feathers, dimensions variable and changing daily, from 1st to 13th July 2010. 

The gallery is divided into two sections, the bigger space filled with masses of feathers seemingly bursting out of the corners and cascading over the top of the false wall from a dark cavity beyond. In contrast to this, suspended in the second space is a single white feather, just above eye-level almost hovering in the spotlight and inviting focused contemplation. (Above images)

Amongst the amassing feathers scattering up the walls, a few white ones are almost camouflaged, seemingly visibly demonstrating a more substantial existence via their shadows than in their physical tangible reality.

Proliferation installation - days nine and ten, Gaffa Gallery Sydney

Kath Fries, Proliferation, Gaffa Gallery, 281 Clarence St Sydney.

Feathers dimensions variable and changing daily, from 1st to 13th July 2010. more info

These images are of the installation on days nine and ten, if you look closely you can see the little feathers creeping up the corner on the right.

Proliferation installation - days five to eight, Gaffa Gallery Sydney

Kath Fries, Proliferation, Gaffa Gallery, 281 Clarence St Sydney.

Feathers - dimensions variable and changing daily, from 1-13 July 2010. These images are of the installation on day five (below) to day eight (above).

Proliferation installation - feather interactivity, Gaffa

Jane was a delightful performer/assistant - collecting handfuls of feathers from Proliferation and distributing them into the hands of other more tentative viewers, engaging them in the wonders of tactility and helping the installation to move and spread around the gallery space.

Proliferation installation floor details, Gaffa

Kath Fries, Proliferation, Gaffa Gallery, 281 Clarence St Sydney.

feathers, dimensions variable and changing daily

installation and detail views of the floor, 5 July 2010

The pre-existing rope laid between the heritage floor-boards, adding an interesting additional layer of texture and inviting subtle feather interventions.

Proliferation installation, Gaffa Gallery

Kath Fries, Proliferation, Gaffa Gallery, 281 Clarence St Sydney.

Feathers dimensions variable and changing daily, 1-13 July 2010.

Installation and detail views from days one to four.

Proliferation review, The Sun-Herald, page 36, 4 July 2010

Feathers find their fill in a 'disgusting' room.
Andrew Taylor, Culture, The Sun-Herald, page 36, 4 July 2010.

Kath Fries admits that some people will find her room full of feathers "quite disgusting". "They all come from dead birds and it could look quite alarming, like the aftermath of a fox in a hen house" she said. Fries' Proliferation fills Gaffa Gallery in the city with thousands of feathers recovered from an old sofa. "They're not pretty like the ones you find in a boa," she said. "They're a bit more mangled and [have] got a lot more history on them." The 30-year-old artist said the installation was an abstract reflection on humanity's destructive relationship with the environment. The feathers, which she suspects are from battery hens, bring to mind birds dripping in the oil still gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Feathers will appear to seep from the walls and floors of the gallery, gradually invading the space day after day. Fries suspects the installation will change as the feathers drift outside or get stuck to viewers' clothing or hair. "It's not really what you imagine coming out of the white walls of a gallery," she said. "Galleries are usually slick and controlled. But here it will be chaos." It's a possibility that may not please the gallery's cleaners.

Review written by Andrew Taylor.
Photographs by Anthony Johnson.