EXHIBITIONS / FALSE NARRATIVES

13.08.2009 to 05.09.2009

False Narratives is a new body of work by Kate Scardifield, which explores ingrained historical constructs through a language of silhouettes, intertwining references to 17th century medicine, Victorian garmentry and the practices of modern-day surgery.
Drawing on J.G Ballard's idea of the marriage between reason and nightmare in contemporary times, Scardifield stages an inquiry into the lengths we travel in order to (re)compose and edit history. The cut and the act of cutting function as the artist's inherent methodology of practice. Apparent in large fabric tableau vivants, these assemblages of worn garments and second hand domestic furnishings are cut, stretched and wrapped into figurative compositions. Patterns of dress pins act to define and simultaneously break down these silhouette structures, whilst evoking an uncanny sense of movement and action in a scene rendered still.
The exhibition continues the artist's exploration into materiality and visual narrative structures as forms of possibility and persuasion. Life-size fabric silhouettes sit in conversation with more intimate compositions on paper that gently weave through preconceived fallacies and fictions. New and old formulae of history are offered through an exchange of past, present and future, suggesting a sense of pre-emptive battle or some sort of exquisite demise.

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