Kath Fries Studio

"haunting installation" - Linger, 2013

Kath Fries, Linger, 2013, Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex
(detail view)

"The focus of Mapping Memory, is an exhibition curated around the concept of where we locate our memories, how these are passed on or preserved, how our personal and collective cultural identities are informed by histories encapsulated in various sites or objects, and how they shape our present and future. In particular, this exhibition regards the significance of geographical, architectural, spiritual, cultural, material and imaginary sites where these personal and collective memories may reside. The intention is not one of sentimentality or nostalgia but to recognise pathways to understanding our identities. As Pierre Nora writes in Realms of Memory (1984), “the need for memory is the need for history”. The artists in Mapping Memory draw attention to various material or spatial realms in which memory can be projected and embodied...

Kath Fries’ haunting installation also emphasises the environment as its point of departure. Linger, which is made from vertical roots from a fig tree adjacent to the Incinerator, contemplates how memories are deeply ‘rooted’ within a particular locale. Their grasp and permeation into an area is enduring and the land becomes a storehouse of memory; a layered document of tangible and intangible history.

...Within a subject that is vast, layered, disputed, complex and changing, Mapping Memory displays a dedicated focus. The exhibition demonstrates the various ways in which memory is so closely linked to objects and sites that in turn immediately affects us as individuals, cultures and societies, and directly influence the formation and understanding of our personal and collective identities."

(Venita Poblocki, Curator, extracts from Mapping Memory catalogue)

Kath Fries, Linger, 2013, Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex
View looking down through studio windows above the gallery.

Kath Fries, Linger, 2013, Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex
dimensions approximately 540x400x220cm

Linger is currently being exhibited in Mapping Memory, a group exhibition curated by Venita Poblocki at the Willoughby Incinerator Art Space; alongside works by Cyrus Tang, Tessa Zettel & Karl Khoe (Makeshift), Thea Weiss, Tim Bruniges & Sarah Mosca, Megan Cope and Nick Fintan.

www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/Willoughby-Incinerator

'Linger' - installation for Mapping Memory, at the Incinerator Art Space

Kath Fries, Linger, 2013, Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex
dimensions approximately 540x400x220cm

Linger explores metaphors of searching for a sense of belonging and the fragility of childhood memories. Aerial roots (collected from a fig tree growing outside the gallery) hang overhead entangled with soil, debris and twine. Suspended in the middle is a simple homemade swing - a transparent plank, like a window or portal into one's memory. The Incinerator was initially used to combust suburban waste, now a contemporary art space the building still sits partly underground and partly hanging off the side of a steep hill; situated within this structure Linger amplifies the site's atmosphere of transience, dislocation and impermanence.

Kath Fries, Linger, 2013, Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex(detail view) total dimensions approximately 540x400x220cm

Kath Fries, Linger, 2013, Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex
(detail view) total dimensions approximately 540x400x220cm

Kath Fries, Linger, 2013, Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex
dimensions approximately 540x400x220cm

"... memory is a limitless subject in art and culture itself, being intrinsic to its very materialisation." (Ian Farr)

Kath Fries, Linger, 2013, Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex
dimensions approximately 540x400x220cm

Kath Fries, Linger, 2013, Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex
(detail view) total dimensions approximately 540x400x220cm

Kath Fries, Linger, 2013, Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex
dimensions approximately 540x400x220cm

www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/Willoughby-Incinerator

Mapping Memory exhibition invitation, Willoughby Council Incinerator Art Space

A swing in the studio - 'Linger' work in progress

Kath Fries, Work in progress Incinerator Studio, 2013
Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex

I'm currently working on a site-responsive installation about memory and connection to place at the Willoughby Incinerator Art Space. Initially I planned to use sheets of perspex suspended horizontally so they would seemingly hover overhead, with soil sitting on top that you viewed by looking up from underneath. But after playing with with different ways of tying and suspending the perspex, I hung one like a swing. This fragile backyard swing instantly conjured nostalgic childhood memories. With this new focal point, of the swing surrounded by aerial roots inside a building that is partly underground and partly hanging off the side of a steep hill, my installation, Linger, is gradually forming a narrative of transient childhood memories and searching for connections to place.

Kath Fries, Work in progress Incinerator Studio, 2013
Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex

Kath Fries, Linger - work in progress Incinerator Studio, 2013
Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex

Kath Fries, Linger - work in progress Incinerator Studio, 2013
Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branch,

Kath Fries, Linger - work in progress Incinerator Studio, 2013
Ficus hillii aerial roots, twine, branches, clay, soil and perspex

Linger will be exhibited in the Mapping Memory group exhibition, curated by Venita Poblocki at the Willoughby Incinerator Art Space, 12 June - 17 July 2013, alongside works by Cyrus Tang, Tessa Zettel & Karl Khoe (Makeshift), Thea Weiss, Tim Bruniges & Sarah Mosca, Megan Cope and Nick Fintan. link to preview artworks

www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/Willoughby-Incinerator

'Linger' - my work in progress for 'Mapping Memory' group exhibition, at the Incinerator Art Space

Kath Fries, Linger installation proposal, 2013, digital image collage

I've been invited by Venita Poblocki to create a new site-responsive sculptural installation for Mapping Memory, a curated group exhibition at the Incinerator Art Space. My work is titled Linger and will incorporate internal architectural elements of the renovated Walter Burley Griffin Incinerator building and aerial roots from Ficus hillii - Hill's Weeping Fig, growing directly outside the complex. Interestingly this fig tree is native to the rainforests of coastal Queensland, far from the local area. My installation, Linger, will expand on these physical forms to suggest metaphors of memory and connection to place.

Kath Fries, Ficus hillii, growing next to the Willoughby Incinerator, 2013, research photograph

Over the next two weeks I'll be working in the Incinerator studio space (above the gallery) creating components of my installation. A special rigging system has recently been built for the gallery - you can see it behind the studio window - I'm planning to use it to suspend my installation.

Kath Fries, Incinerator studio space with collected of Ficus hillii areial roots, 2013,work in progress photograph

Mapping Memory

12 June - 7 July 2013

Incinerator Art Space, 2 Small St, Willoughby

Opening 3pm Saturday 15 June

www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/Willoughby-Incinerator

Places and objects can hold personal and collective memories. These sites form important elements of societies past and present; they establish a history and create a present and inform our future. Through shared meaning, they connect us to one another and form the fabric of our society. In Mapping Memory, nine artists consider where memories are located. They regard the significance of geographical, architectural, spiritual, cultural, material and imaginary sites where these personal and collective memories may reside. The exhibition will include sculpture, painting, etching, prints, site-specific installation, video & sound works by artists Cyrus Tang, Kath Fries, Tessa Zettel & Karl Khoe (Makeshift), Thea Weiss, Tim Bruniges & Sarah Mosca, Megan Cope and Nick Fintan. Curated by Venita Poblocki.

Mapping Memory exhibition invitation, Willoughby Incinerator Art Space

The Feather Tree - a community installation

The Feather Tree is down the road from my home studio in St Peters NSW. It's an anonymous community installation of Ibis and Cockatoo feathers inserted into the bark of a paperbark tree. The installation was well underway when I first encountered it two years ago, and despite its seemingly temporal ephemeral nature the feathers have held their positions or been replaced over time, so the installation continues to grow and change.

Kath Fries, The Feather Tree, 2013, photograph

Sometimes White Ibis nest in the fig trees nearby and their large feathers float down, making them easy to collect from the footpath. Sulphur-crested Cockatoos also pay occasional screeching visits to the street, leaving an odd feather or two behind, which are added to The Feather Tree.

Kath Fries, The Feather Tree, 2013, photograph

Like most locals, I usually add a feather to the installation when I walk by. You can't really see The Feather Tree from the road when driving past, so its a purely a pedestrian experience - and all the more special as a result. It's great to witness the double take and puzzled expression of an observant person walking past the installation. They often pause, examine it and then sometimes spontaneously add another feather into the paperbark.