“I Am A”

A letterpress, paper installation on Thai paper by David Armes

“I Am A”, is a paper installation that uses the movements of dancers as source material for mark-making. The dancers’ thoughts about their experience are distilled down to a single word, overlaid onto those marks but emerging from a matrix of letters, mirroring the way movements emerge from complex experiences and feelings. The work was born from attending sessions of the Danielle Jones (Teale) Dance, Dancing with Parkinson’s groups; a rare insight into deeply personal spaces, in homes and on-screen. The installation comprises five groups of paper strips – within each, marks are interrelated and the word traces a theme. Through this process, the dancers become “as one”, connected and alive.

“I Am A Translation”
“I Am A Memory”
“I Am A Bridge”
“I Am An Offering”
Media: letterpress, carbon paper
Paper: hand-made Thai paper
Four monoprints have been created to distil a larger piece of installation work into four separate pieces. The dancers’ movements are interpreted through carbon paper marks that explore the overlapping shapes and traces made by collective movement work. The marks were grouped and overlaid by a single word used by the dancers to describe their experiences: ‘translation’, ‘memory’, ‘bridge’, ‘offering’. The word ‘movement’ repeats across all four pieces, highlighting the connectivity between both the dancers and the monoprints.

Find out more about David Armes on his website: http://www.redplatepress.com/

Exhibition Notes