Shelagh Wakely. Curcuma sul travertino, made up of loose turmeric scattered in baroque patterns on the travertine marble floors of the British School in Rome, 1991
What might be the opposite of all those assertive pieces of last week? Perhaps Shelagh Wakely's large ephemeral pieces that lie flat on the floor, and if not a sheet of gold or turmeric, then small fruits and vegetables, covered in gold leaf, that slowly collapse. Her potted biographical note shows both the RCA and a BSc in Agriculture which might be one of the roots of her affinity to the horizontal surface, its inscriptions and patterns.
©Shelagh Wakely. Partial recreation of Paisagem Inutil, 1997. Camden Arts Centre – Shelagh Wakely: A View from a Window, 2014. photo: Marcus J Leith