Collisions: Julie Clarke + Mark McDean (24.07.2012)

All in Knots. Julie Clarke 2012. Embossed silver paper cut into an equilateral triangle of 16 cm and embellished with staples, human hair, gold thread and folded tissue paper cut in the shape of the crotch area of underwear covered in text produced on a manual typewriter.

This is my response to Mark McDean's recent artwork in the Collisions project. Without going into an extensive explanation the piece engages with sexuality and gender raised in Mark's piece and the text I've typewritten on the tissue paper may allow for some understanding:

In the full length mirror the eight year old,

too tall for her age & always too smart for her own good

looked first at her thick fat thighs in the karki board shorts, then to her face.

Cropped, thick, dark & uneven fringe framed her dial -
An odd Chinese doll was she, without a pretty red silk dress adorned with Apple Blossom.

The material worn by solders held firm to her already too rounded flesh.

She was miserable - clumsy.
She was always falling over.
Always tripping over her own two feet.
Couldn't ride the shuffle board in shallow water. And when she was down...