ELLENA YAPP

My practice is centred around the (re)activation of objects and utilising “space” as a materiality in the form of sculpture-based installation. In the first chapter of Vibrant Matter, Jane Bennett describes a collection of discarded objects. She states them as having “effect” due to their thing-power. Which, in her words, is created from the “tableau” the objects formed with each other and their surroundings (i.e. the street, the weather). She describes a black glove and the way the sun glints on its surface, and how its “effect” led to a realisation of the other objects in its vicinity. This is a fitting analogy for my interest in the power of certain objects and their spatial relationship and interventions.

I see myself as an artist and a collector. My material-gathering methodology is magpie-like; filtering through matters of the everyday for “shiny” objects, in order to build up a personal archive of “things” to use as a material palette. This includes objects that are aesthetically or characteristically interesting to me, such as broken chair legs, bouncy balls, and various parcel packaging. I am fascinated by the instinctual collecting of objects and the behavioural tendency to keep certain, seemingly random, objects.The objects collected directly influence the making process and outcome, providing foundational objects to “(re)activate” through modification or playful amalgamation. Within this, I am focusing on the contrast between materials and objects (man-made vs. natural, hand-crafted vs. found, heavy vs. lightweight, and solid vs. malleable). Using additional materials such as latex, concrete and plaster to utilise their physical characteristics, toy with their initial purpose, and create traces from the original. Focusing on learning, as Tim Ingold explains in Making, as through an engagement with materials. Also, the (re)purposing nature of using collected and found materials serves as an underlying comment on our throw-away society. Especially when considering (re)production and (re)producing in an already very full material world. And, the huge environmental impacts of mass-production and consumerism (i.e. plastic in our oceans and climate change). 

My works are “activated” during the installation process by context and spatial relationship. My installations comprise of studio-based creations and site-specific works responding directly to the exhibition sites individualities. Exploring how small-scale sculptures can project an extensive presence through large-scale interventions. Simply put, I am charmed by the un-seeming combinations of objects, and how their harmonious existence can evoke a certain “poetry” through the conversations that arise between the materials and objects when sitting in relationship to one another within a space. Additionally, how the audience slowly realises the subtle connections and navigates this – becoming a live element of each installation.