archive of fragments...

I imagine the usual reaction to receiving damaged works having returned from an exhibition tour could be one of disappointment however in the case of this small collection of pieces with torn edges and detached corners they seem to reaffirm their archival/artefact belongings. There is a temptation to repair them but in their fragmented state they seem to have created their own history of mishaps. 

     The pieces are part of a wall installation 'Archive of the Unfamiliar'  that was composed of over one thousand postcards sourced from numerous antique stores throughout Australia and my personal collection. The 'aboutness' of the work related to a deliberate juxtaposition of altered texts and images whose interrelations provide the viewer with a sense of deciphering a palimpsest of historical narratives. The expanse of postcards could be viewed as a threshold of a European re-inscribing of place. Ultimately the archival tableau offers little more than an encounter with a reflective thought-space relating to a gathering of historical awareness within our colonial past that recognises the potent inscriptions that were already set in place.