Silently haunting me for months was a cardboard box labelled ‘fragile’ in the corner of my room. It was left over from one of my moves and hadn’t made it out the door. I found my gaze often resting on the box. The bold letters ‘Fragile’ taped across the box sticking in my mind. I began thinking of the word ‘fragile’ and my relationship with the word and what it means to feel fragile. Fragility can be seen as vulnerable and delicate, though to me fragility can also feel awkward, uncomfortable and obvious to the people around you. During the process of making the painting it seemed like an appropriate image of what I was feeling at the time.
Suspended in my parents shed are dozens of chairs, all different shapes, sizes and styles. Everywhere you look in the shed there is something that catches your eye. Whether it be a woven basket made from the vines on the property, a half finished painting, the beginnings of a new project, tools scattered around ready and waiting for use, surfboards lined up, a canoe hanging from the ceiling. It is all encompassing and overwhelming, however it holds endless possibilities.
I came across an old drawing of mine that I did when I was eight years old. It was a basic line drawing of my shoes at the time. I loved the simplicity and the devotion and time spent drawing such a mundane, everyday item. I began to question, what I saw in them and what did they mean to me at the time that made me want to dedicate a drawing to shoes? I can appreciate the many experiences shoes witness,such as the joyous act of dancing.
See all works by Ella Dunn here.