WALKED OVER

2016

Walked Over 2016, Plaster, vermiculite, cast objects in jesmonite, and pigment 5M x 5M

Walked Over was inspired by Judith Butler’s books, Precarious Lives and Frames of War, and the concept that some people are treated as less than human or “walked over” by others .She attributes this process of 'othering' as responsible for the perpetuation of genocide through history. Zizek stated in his book Six Sideways of Violence that it is not enough to tolerate others in society but there must be acceptance in order to break this pattern.

Using a storage container - a deliberate reference to a modern container for objects - fabricated breezeblocks were cast and arranged as a floor that the viewer could walk over. Within the breeze blocks objects were buried and excavated. These objects, (bones, weapons, sex toys) were used metaphorically to represent different aspects of war atrocities as in the UN and House of Lords-definition.

The United Nations 1021 treaty on the prevention of genocide, recognised, 5 acts

1.     Killing members of the group.

2.     Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. 

3.     Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. 

4.     Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

5.     Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. 

However, it was not until 1994 that The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) became the first declared international court to recognise rape as a crime of genocide. This was only recently addressed by the British House of Lords in 2016, ‘Sexual violence in conflict: a war crime.’

Walked Over, uses the combination of weapons with sex toys and bones, to metaphorically represent sexual violence, (rape), as genocide.

The floor references a forensic or archaeological dig. The blocks, by using   garden vermiculite, have an earthy quality and the objects, by a process of excavation, are partially concealed and partially revealed.

 The floor is arranged as a grid representing control and systems and referencing the violent control to suppress the “other” in society. The breeze blocks are hidden in this controlled grid system in the same way that others are ignored within society.

The grid resembles a flag referencing territory, ironic when considering the current refugee crisis.A floor is an architectural space, often hidden and overlooked, but by making it interactive with the viewer, they are uncomfortably forced to confront the buried objects and their contextual connections.

 Above,  detail of Walked Over showing bones, weapons,(grenades and guns) and sex toys.

Below, construction  using fabricated breeze blocks made from plaster and vermiculite.

 Above,  detail of Walked Over showing bones, weapons,(grenades and guns) and sex toys.

Below, construction  using fabricated breeze blocks made from setting plaster and vermiculite in modern storage boxes