The Lost And The Found
The following images and text are taken from the accompanying publication "The Lost and the Found". This features an essay by Alex Michon, artist, writer and co-director of the Transition Gallery in East London. All photography below is by Ben Blackall.
I find myself drawn time and again to portraying... contradictions – the hard and the soft, the horror and the beauty, the flesh and the bone, the lost and the found.
Tabitha Moses
Hairpurse by Tabitha Moses 2004 Human hair and metal clasp
Dolls Legs Object from Bolton Museum's collection
Dolls Body Object from Bolton Museum's collection
"The dolls’ headless torso and disembodied limbs hold a complex fascination. I find them at once charming and disturbingly corporeal – leather bodies stuffed hard, calico thighs joined to shins and feet made of china or lacquered papier mâché.
Untitled by Tabitha Moses 2006 X-ray in lightbox
The Dolls by Tabitha Moses 2004 Plastic figure wrapped in cotton quilting fabric
This noticing of the unnoticed is central to my work – revealing the beauty and meaning in overlooked objects, stories and people.
The Dolls by Tabitha Moses 2004 Porcelain girl wrapped in unknown fabric and human hair
The Dolls by Tabitha Moses 2004 Bride wrapped in linen
Untitled by Tabitha Moses 2006 X-ray in lightbox
These dolls have more character than the pretty and pristine. I wonder how they lost limbs and gathered dirt. Who has played with them so thoroughly? And are they now destined to stay forever in the storeroom while the perfect examples are on public display?
The Dolls by Tabitha Moses 2004 Plastic sister wrapped in cotton
The Dolls by Tabitha Moses 2004 Plastic girl wrapped in cotton apron fabric
Through the generosity of The Arts Council, England and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and with our partners 20-21 Visual Arts Centre we have been able to support Tabitha through the challenge of creating and producing her first major solo show.
Tabitha will be artist in residency in at 20-21 in April 2007, creating a new work which will be shown in "The Lost and the Found" exhibition when it is displayed at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre from 5 May to 7 July.
