Q&A with Timothy Roberts for The Lives of Animals — Gracia Haby, St Michael's Grammar School, 16th August, 2013 (published here)
Q: Can you describe the major themes of your current exhibition?
On
the eve of our five-day-install of our work at Geelong Gallery, we are
looking forward to the whole glorious process. Louise Jennison and my
work for this exhibition, All breathing in heaven,
is part of a three-person exhibition with Stephen Wickham. In reply to
Stephen’s photographic grid (along one wall of the gallery space), 464
of my postcard collages will be arranged in columns dictated by colour
and 23 of Louise’s birds (with one butterfly included) will appear to
take flight. Louise’s birds have initial appearance of flight, but are
actually pinned to the wall like specimen collections of old. Beauty in
its place, tagged and recorded. These hand-drawn birds of Louise’s have
nowhere to fly in the gallery; this is not their habitat. They will be
boxed within my postcard collage grid. With my postcard collages
(previously exhibited at Latrobe Regional Gallery as part of our
exhibition By This Unwinking Night
(2012), and including new postcard collages set in Geelong), I am
chiefly looking to add one thing only to the scene that will alter its
reading. Sometimes the new animal inhabitant will be hard to spot, a
chameleon camouflaged in the floral arbour, and other times it will
dominate the landscape. For me, it is what the animal I have collaged in
place is doing that is of interest to me and what I see these works to
be about. Are they scuttling or seeking shelter? The title of each
scene, too, will serve as clue. (It will also serve as red herring.)
This configuration along one long gallery wall features collages from
2006 to 2013 that will give way to Louise’s birds. It includes collages
created as part of my Dear You
series in which I write the narrative on the reverse side of the
postcard too. Many people think I have found them this way, with a story
on the reverse, which I find amusing. For me, like titling an artwork,
it is another space in which to play and direct reading.
...
Q: You have stated that ‘the animal is there to question our
very behaviour, those moral principles one governs the self by, and to
explore the relationship with the natural world.’ How does your current
exhibition expand on these themes? Does your art have an overarching
moral theme or message?
I am primarily interested in what
the animal in my collages is doing more than what type of animal they
are (that is secondary). I am interested in putting them in scenarios
both obvious and less so. Some promenade through a scene whilst others
lurk seemingly undetected, such as in my artists’ book Testing the laws of hazard (2012). Most are out of proportion with their environment. They don’t fit and yet they do, such as in my artists’ book, All that’s bewitching by the water (Capri)
(2012). Most are in some ways a self-portrait of how I see or feel my
own place in the world to be. With Louise’s birds, the important part is
the environment you do not see. In my works there is a landscape but it
might not be the right one, and in Louise’s works there is no branch or
nook. Upon first glance, I think our work looks cheerful, but upon
closer reflection it is anything but. We use the animal almost as a lure
to pull you closer.
We also try to leave our works open-ended. You can see in them what you will. You can make of them what you will. You can see yourself. You can see your own link or association with nature. You can see human nature reflected in the movements and actions. You can see charm. Along the way, some people have seen our zines to be artists‘ books, or our ‘this’ to be ‘that’ and as this is something beyond our control, we’re fine with that.
(Read in full)
