Elusive

"Elusive" is currently showing at Camberwell Space in Camberwell College of Arts. Alongside this yesterday was a symposium about self publishing with "Self Publish , Be Happy". As a photographic exhibition it is interesting and enjoyable, but also elusive as the title suggests. The works are hung without titles or authors; slightly irritating as one has to use a map to work out which work belongs to who. There is also no explanatory text to describe the authors' intentions; I am sure this was deliberate, but I felt it diminished  the overall experience. The free catalogue contains an essay about three of the works, but the rest are left for the viewer to make what they will of. 

The work above by Verdi Yahooda , entitled "Romillys Tools- an incomplete set" interested me , as I had previously been looking at Susan Hiller's work in archival boxes, which was varied and fun. This work was different; the old box was left closed, and I wasn't immediately sure whether I was permitted to touch it and open the drawers. Having opened the drawer I found prints of old tools printed on plain paper, with strange haloes around them, as if the artist had had difficulty in Photoshop. I have no idea what the haloes were about, and will probably never find out. 

I had been thinking of presenting some items from the home as if they were in a museum archive, for example the contents of a make-up bag, or drawer. Seeing this work made me realise that I don't want to do this in a three dimensional format. Maybe taking photographs of items in archival boxes, or as some form of catalogue would be more appropriate, in the manner of Christian Boltanski, as seen at Chelsea last week.