The title of this exhibition plays with the idea of an uninhibited celebration of those usually found in the margins – the overlooked; a kind of uninhibited bacchanalia for the peripheral which links to the sculptural component of the exhibition called Saltarello.
The collection comprises 3 sets of drawings made in one year from January in 2020. They were never made with the intention of illustrating current events, but rather, were responsive to them as they unfurled. As such, this exhibition is a reflection looking back at what turned out to be an extraordinary year.
Drawing series 1 – Untitled
These works were all made during a month in Southern Spain and start with themes that were particularly pertinent at the start of the year: Brexit (Hubris), Lunar events (Wolf Moon, Eclipse), followed by the horror of the Australian fires and the plight, or survival, of the animal population there.
Drawing series 2 – A Handwashing Exercise
This series more directly references the pandemic, and plays with the absurd within the situation. In this case, the 20 second handwashing exercise we were advised to adopt.
Drawing series 3 – A Whitewashing Exercise
Handwashing as a notion is a loaded one. This series explores handwashing further within the different and very immediate context of the George Floyd murder in the USA and the ensuing Black Lives Matter response.
Much of Kara’s work is involved with the body both thematically and as a central aspect of making. Hers is a haptic or tactile engagement with materials, whereby she utilises parts of her body such as hands or feet in the process of creation whether through smudging, as in the drawings, or by pressing or clawing at wet clay.
