Project Unrealised: TRAVERSE

Some of the projects I work on and invest considerable energy into are not realised. This is one of them.

It is an art installation, call TRAVERSE, changing the experience of a walker along a public path. 

The essence of the work was to capture something of my experience during 2020/21 and the ways I held onto hope in the middle of great trauma. Because it is intended to be on a public path, the work tells stories about the daily need to carry hope as we deal with trauma and work towards healing.

To create the work I drew on the work of Emily and Amelia Nagoski and their book “Burnout”. @enagoski @burnoutbookgroup . In particular, I found their description of moving through trauma and towards health really impactful. In response to their work, I created an art installation as a journey through a series of arches. As you walk along the path you enter the arches. To begin with they are open to the sky, like a community standing around you. As you continue, these arches close toward each other until you reach the dark tunnel in the middle. This closing tunnel can at least symbolise both protection from a trauma or entering a trauma. Then, as you emerge past the tunnel the arches start to open again, revealing the sky more and more, and appearing like hands raised in celebration and hope. This passage from open to closed to open again is the same in both directions. 

What you see in the images are photos of a cardboard model. The work was intended to be installed in a public space, that is accessible to all, like a public path that people walk on. I have had meaningful discussions with several governments around the world but ultimately the project remains unrealised. And perhaps that is where it will stay. Some art works remain just ideas.