19 January – 2 March 2012
In her new body of work Pratesi builds upon the themes of psychological transformation and transition found in her earlier paintings. Here totemic sculptures are recognized as having symbolic power, but their relationship with the world and their use, remains unknown. Objects are improvised and provisional, held in place by drawing pins, responsive to emotional intuition, connections with the subconscious, and mapping changed states of mind. Their making is not hidden, thereby creating a sense of possibility and growth. In The Living End pasts and futures are offered simultaneously while knowledge and truth remain elusive.
We enter into a space with an island of carpet, clusters of objects, and paintings hanging on the wall. Elements can be picked out, traces of carving, lengths of flowing hair, and figures merging into, or coming out of, abstract spaces. It is not apparent whether this site is an archaeological find of a once powerful empire, or the beginnings of a new world. We are looking at the expression of a state of mind, in which the emotional has become physical. Offered a world of ambiguity and superstitions, somehow out of time, it is unclear whether these are ghosts of the past, or totems for the unknown future.
