elsewhere, here, on the ground
Elsewhere, here, on the ground: 1 was a digital collage produced for the Marsh Lane Billboard Project (East Street Arts) curated by Marion Harrison it was visible by the ring roads in the centre of Leeds by Mabgate from December 2019 to January 2020.
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The collage is composed of two ‘grounds’ - the glimmering remnants on the carpeted floor of Rowland Road Working Men’s Club the day after a lesbian wedding alongside a close up of a playground in Beeston, South Leeds that has had its swings and slides cut out in the wake of local council cuts and reports of ‘antisocial’ behaviour.
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The following text accompanied the online launch of the work:
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The ground. The place we sink our feet, dig for victory, dance, rest our souls. Host to cliches, celebration, lament, changing directions, patterns. Sometimes unstable, always shifting... in our memories scenes merge recalled through small details;
crispy towels dried in the sun, the smell of animals, unspoken rules.
Details where life accumulates. Delicate outlines the ground where life accumulates. The floor, the walls, the shape of the table, the bits where the varnish chips off that you colour in when left to your own devices, the overheard sounds, the awkward feelings.
Bits on top of the definitive. The ground. Touched, therefore known for a split second.
The underscore to the overture. Sometimes sticky, always dissolving. The background. Imposing order; soft glimmers / sharp shards. Not a lack that needs to be filled but an intangible inside that asks to be held. How.
