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Art Exhibition: prayers for a word (or a lack that builds the world) by Joshua Vettivelu - This event has already occurred
Event Details
February 4 - March 6, 2022, weekends only, Friday - Sunday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Joshua Vettivelu’s installation, prayers for a word (or a lack that builds the world)presents hundreds of slowly melting castings of their grandmother’s hands, made out of...
February 4 - March 6, 2022, weekends only, Friday - Sunday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Joshua Vettivelu’s installation, prayers for a word (or a lack that builds the world) presents hundreds of slowly melting castings of their grandmother’s hands, made out of beeswax infused with ‘Ceylon’ cinnamon.
Vettivelu’s research investigates how the language we use to understand ourselves is informed by the material conditions that surround us. Prayers for a word (a lack that builds the world) connects the material history of the spice trade with the psychic impact of European missionary work to explore how frameworks of redemption and salvation have been used to ensure enthusiastic labour and unfettered access to resources.
The installation is intentionally housed in the Visual Art Centre of Clarington, recalling its role as a decommissioned barley mill. The building was constructed in 1905 for the processing of grits and barley, later revitalized into a hub of cultural production by the Town of Newcastle in 1976. In collaboration with Nicolas Fleming and Andreas Buchwaldt, Vettivelu refigures the VAC’s architecture into a factory that continually produces and destroys something that is simultaneously material and immaterial, public yet deeply private.