A few images of Unspoken

Unspoken is an installation by Chantal Brooks and me, and these are just a couple of pictures of the installation on show at Invigorate at the Exchange in Penzance last week. It's made up of a correspondence between the two of us and includes narrative, images (including prints) and small sculptural 'artefacts'; there were probably around 25 objects on display, but the work is ongoing and will continue to grow. The correspondence is really intimate and personal, touching on themes of vulnerability and protection and has developed a distinct aesthetic as it's grown. All but one of the images images in this post are of things I've sent to Chantal, but I plan to take some more of things that she's sent me, so call back soon!

Left: paper-chain of cut out girls with circles cut out of the bodies, some filled with threads, some with fabrics (from a dress I wore age 10)

View of part of the installation, showing paper

plinths with correspondence on top and visitors looking at
correspondence hanging in the windows.

2 views of a piece made of 5 small waxed prints, stitched along the top.
Each print (taken from the body) lifts up to reveal words beneath
(although under the first print is a black graphite square), including 'feel' and 'discover'

The letter above is made from a print of my foot with the words 'we will disappear' stitched to it.
The letter, stitched to the reverse reads:

Sunday. I've picked up this pen to write to you, but all I can think is empty. I want to say something worthy or something that you'll always remember me for, but I realise there's nothing. I stitch and sew to keep things together, to keep you bound tight to me, but the nature of thread is that it's fragile. I must stitch tighter, more creatively. I wonder always if you want me bound to you in the same way. Do you use an invisible thread, because I just can't see it? xx

This is the last piece I've received from Chantal (to date).
It's made of paper, dress-making pins and her hair.
It has the words pin, tuck, join, hold, secure, fold and stitch
running from top to bottom (typed).