Life Drawing - Gill Horn
Life Drawing, an installation in three parts - birth to teenage, the middle years and old age to death can be found in the West Downs Centre.
The installation is about one woman’s life. Mary is a fictional character invented after much research at Knowle Hospital – Hampshire’s purpose built ‘lunatic asylum’ of 1852.
A line of her shoes containing intriguing materials varying from soil, sweets, music manuscript, lead, bones and even mirrors, stand as metaphors for various aspects of Mary’s life. They depict her love of music and dance, her marriage, her breakdown and her interests in old age.
Words burnt or drawn on the surface reflect her inner thoughts at times of great celebration, fear and trepidation, through depression and beyond during her advance through life.