Included in 'Vivere' exhibition at the Bournemouth Natural Science Society, 2021
Responding to themes of preservation and ritual, 'Sacrality Cultivation' was created for an exhibition in collaboration with the Bournemouth Natural Science Society, a museum home to a vast preserved collection of ecological objects. The artwork includes an oil painting, a film including a performance by the artist, and an interactive sculpture. The sculpture and accompanying film encourage the viewer to participate in a ritualistic act echoing methods of preservation, that being to place objects in jars held in a sculpted plaster plaque. The plaque was made through a process of relief, showing embossed organic motifs, visually evoking another form of preservation: fossilisation.
The film features the Annabelle Keyes and another participant, artist Lyle Ingram, performing a preservation ritual in a natural setting, appearing to follow written instructions interjecting on the screen. The film was shown above the sculpture, the instructions applicable to the jars and material provided for the viewer. The film was directed as such by Annabelle to echo the symmetry of the painting also shown in the exhibition.
The conceptual intent was to involve the audience in an act of preservation in a ritualistic manner, to bring attention to the examples of preserved organic specimens around the museum, and create a dialogue around the spiritual aspect of preservation. The essential narrative of the piece is that sacrality is cultivated, what the individual decides is sacred becomes sacred. The available material for preservation in the installation were marbles, moss, honey and red wine vinegar, however the vague instructions and absence of an authority left the audience to participate freely, ritualising and offering personal materials such as coins from pockets and liquid from cups.
Installation view.
Plaster, glass, resin, seaweed, urchin shells, human hair, pumpkin, mirrors, found tree slices.
Film: 5 minutes 25 seconds.
The painting Sacrality Cultivation suggests archaically spiritual connotations, visually relating to cave drawings and simplistic organic forms, as well as the symmetric soft patterns often shown in the paintings by Annabelle Keyes to reflect a meditative aesthetic. The painting shown specifically communicates an energetic interpretation of the vast and previously alive collection at the BNSS.
Oil on canvas, 65cm x 65cm