Charlie Vessey-MacPherson

Project title:	You:Rediscovered
Location:	Melin Llynon Roundhouse, Isle of Anglesey
Date(s):	21 – 25 July 2023

Artist Statement

My practice is multi-dimensional, multi-media and multi-sensory. I work with traditional methods and techniques that include oil painting, print making and pencil work, as well as with site specific installations, sculptures and digital photography.

My work engages with experiences of mental health, disassociation of self, reconnection with and reaffirmation of our truest selves. I question and examine the ways we protect ourselves from both external pain and humiliation, and from the internal negative dialogue and frustrations we create within ourselves. I create works that are immersive, physical experiences for the audience. My work is intended to break the barrier between the art and the audience, openly engaging the audience in discussion, whilst creating an opportunity for the audience to not only see themselves within the work but the opportunity to see part of themselves within other members of the audience also.  

As an artist with sensory and physical disabilities, I have established and am committed to a creative process that explores, focuses on, and invents inclusion from the early conception of ideas. This creative approach means my work moves beyond a solely sight-led experience ensuring inclusion is embedded in a viewer’s encounter, although not necessarily the subject of the work. Within my practice I utilise all human senses whilst also attempting to tap into our underappreciated sixth sense. By including and stimulating these senses the audience is given the opportunity to connect in a more complete way, whilst allowing those with disabilities the experience on an equal footing without segregation or exclusion.

About the Project: You:Rediscovered

The Project; You:Rediscovered, was a multi-sensory, immersive exhibition housed within an iron age roundhouse on the Isle of Anglesey, a space that has not been ‘beautified’, it’s natural, with its past visible to all. The exhibition was held from the 21^st of July to 25^th July and was also available to view via an online catalogue.

You:Rediscovered incorporates digital drawings, sculptures, installations, audio, and collaboration to address and engage the audience with the idea of Unmasking, self-recognition, and true identity.

The work in You:Rediscovered showed the truths behind a plethora of masks and barriers, portraying my weaknesses, hidden identity, and raw truths. The honesty expressed through the work was chosen to be relatable, to create a connection deep within the audience, to add additional connection and to break the wall between art and viewer, each work asked a question, thus pushing the work and the subject into the audience and the audience into the work.

We are, as humans all inherently different, uniquely individual; our taste in music, emotions, looks, intelligence, and opinions, are as important and as natural as the skin, cells, and tissues of the human form, but are overshadowed, judged, and shamed due to many factors including but not limited to the overused and misused word; Normal.

Together, we can flip the negative cycle, and use comparison to see positives in our own unique individuality and slowly unmask and reconnect.

Mankind has the innate ability to inspire and encourage, both positively and negatively. The question remains, what inspiration is being taken? Seeing an individual remove their masks to show the raw emotions and truths behind or seeing the strength and opportunities that hitherto unknown masking has given. Am I inspiring the audience to remove their masks or am I inspiring them to add more?

Project Documentation – You:Rediscovered

‘Dear Diary…’
Are you, like me, surviving life as if in a masquerade ball?
2 x 3 metres
February – June 2023

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‘Insubstantial’

Digital Animation
2023

For more information:

www.charliemacpherson.co.uk
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