holly story

“In my recent practice I have been exploring notions of “landscape” and “place” and the role of the body and memory in their cultural construction. The direction of my new work shifts the emphasis more particularly onto the sensory nature of human perception and I am excited by the potential of the work to articulate a corporeal sensibility in relation to environmental politics…”

“My ideas have been influenced by the discourses of phenomenology - the philosophy of perception – and the writings of David Abram, in particular his interpretation of the ideas of the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who stated, “…the boundaries of a living body are open and indeterminate; more like membranes than barriers, they define a surface of metamorphosis and exchange.”

Holly Story 2006

 

Holly’s work focus on these surfaces of ‘metamorphosis and exchange’, developing forms that evoke plant, animal and human “skins” in a fluid continuum of internal and external surfaces. Hand-dyed and stitched blankets become metaphors for skins, pelts or coverings. Native plant matter and human hair are pressed into the soft pliable surface of thin lead sheets, leaving intricate details, like fragments of memory. These “nature pressings” are based on techniques used by early botanists to record specimens. Through this investigation Holly hopes to further her, and her viewers’, understanding of the interdependence of the human and natural world.