Discipline
Abstract
Conceptual
Installation / Land / Site-specific
Material
Found Objects
Metal (other)
Other
Steel
Textile
Region
South East
Biography
Liz Clifford uses daily walking as the starting point for her work across drawing and sculpture. She aims for a sustainable practice through the use of salvaged materials, many of which are found littering the countryside - the detritus of agri-business, transport, recreation and family life. She responds to these materials by building assemblages, employing low-tech methods of construction such as knotting and binding, referencing the ‘making do’ solutions that evolve with circumstances and are associated with ‘fixing things’ in both domestic and agricultural contexts. As well as addressing concerns around pollution, the works explore assemblage as a post-human hybrid concept. A coming together of objects with their own agency to create new beings, with the accidental playing a hugely important role. Time is also a key feature, from the duration of the repetitive walk to the slow gathering of materials and the incorporation of live flora in the work.
Liz is an Associate Artist at Chapel Arts Studios, Andover, and has an MA from UCA Farnham.
This installation was made during a week's residency at Chapel Arts Studios, Andover, Hampshire. The verge is an undefined space and the hinterland of the corridors we rush along. It is between the countryside and the road. What goes on there is only fleetingly glimpsed out of the corner of an eye and soon forgotten. It is a non-place for those who pass by, but not for the inhabitants, exposed to the fleeting glance of those passers-by. The work begins to explore imagined futures for the inhabitants of this liminal space by building a group of assemblage sculptures from a mixture of roadside and agricultural detritus, as well as discarded domestic bedding. The soundscape in the space is assembled from the artist's field recordings.