OBJECTS OF EMPATHY

NAOMI ZOUWER

08 November - 21 December 2019 @ CCAS: Gorman Arts Centre

The works in Objects of Empathy explore ideas of connections and disconnection to people, place and time through objects. Naomi Zouwer continues her focus on small, trivial, everyday objects that are a part of daily life. They are a mixture of functional and non-functional items; precious in terms of memories, they are keepsakes, souvenirs, some are whole and some just fragments. Zouwer’s painting and reinterpretation of objects in textiles, enhances their quality and raises their status so that they become worthy of sustained attention.

‘I reinterpret these trivial objects through painting and textiles as signifiers of belonging to more than one place. They simultaneously bridge the void between past and present, enchant us and elaborate on human behaviour. My work brings together seemingly incompatible objects from different times and places into a heterotopic space. Bringing objects together in this way changes the meaning of the individual object and envisages them anew. They become a hybrid object.’

Image: Naomi Zouwer, Family 1 2019, oil on canvas, 110cm x 90cm