Caroline Vincent Art: Where Dad Is

‘Where Dad is’

Sunglasses Case, Wallet, and Watch

Bronze

2010

This work formed part of my Graduation Exhibition from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2010. The exhibition took the form of a two installations. These were both inspired by my family and our situation of living with a sick father, losing our father and living without him. ‘Where Dad is’ was part of ‘Installation Two – The Closet’. This installation was a closet designed to illustrate the story of a couple, where the husband is terminally ill. Their story unfolds as their cupboard is the tell-tale sign of their tragic situation. The items in this space reference their joined struggle, as the resonances of their possessions do more than occupy this intimate space. The artwork was intended to be both portraiture and expression as I investigated private quarters that are usually the unseen, and therefore unconstructed places of a person’s space.

These three objects form a still life that embodies the loss of my father. The title ‘Where Dad Is’ is a play on the question ‘Where is Dad?’. These objects are the items one takes with you when you go out, and as my father’s health worsened they never left the house, like him. So they were kept in the cupboard, and that is why I made them to be part of my closet installation. And since he died his real sunglasses, wallet and watch, have become little parts of him for us to keep and remember him by.

This work is an example of my interest in the ability of inanimate objects in a room to communicate something through resonance and empathetic effect. This interconnectivity and the potential that it holds is what has fascinated and informed my work for the past two years.