Rookwood Cemetery Archives

Suzanne Davey, The Echo of Invisible Things, clothing, resin, paint, 240cm x 60cm x 60cm

The Echo of Invisible Thingsis a memorial column, dedicated to human fragility and vulnerability. It is a response to contemporary narratives of abuse, homelessness, abandonment and neglect by public institutions. The work uses a a classic architectural element to reference institutions such as churches, temples, museums, theatres and government. Clothing is utilised as a social and cultural signifier of identity, memory and our psychological ties with others. The clothes are traces of the bodies that once wore them, mementos to individual and collective lived experiences; an echo of tragedy.

Installed in Rookwood Cemetery the work references memorial and funerary architecture such as chapels, arches, churches and temples.

Above: Clothing detail, Suzanne Davey, The Echo of Invisible Things, clothing, resin, paint, 240cm x 60cm x 60cm

Suzanne Davey, On the Way to Ithaca, fabric, steel, bamboo, 320 x 350 x 750cm

HIDDEN

On the Way to Ithaca was created for the fifth HIDDEN Rookwood Sculpture Walk held at the Rookwood Cemetery; the largest working cemetery in the southern hemisphere. The exhibition was curated by Cassandra Hard Lawrie. 40 selected artists responded to themes appropriate to the site such as life, love, death, loss, memory and mortality as well as the culture around memorial, eulogy, burial and ceremony.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Have Ithaca always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don’t in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years……..

Constantine P Cavafy

However long our life may be our journey is punctuated by many beginnings and ends. These moments are marked in funerary architecture and memorial landscaping by gates, arches and avenues. On the Way to Ithaca is an ethereal response to these forms as we travel between our first and last breaths; our lives shaped by our ties and connections to one another. The installation aims to explore the tension between life and death, and the fragility of life, as we journey towards Ithaca.