A Structure to Fold and Hang
Sarah Poulgrain
Working image for A Structure to Fold and Hang, 2020. Photo by Charlie Hillhouse.
“I feel empowered and strong from the process of being able to build things myself. I also feel personally satisfied about the connections made with people during this process. When I think about what I want my continued art practice to look like, prioritising these processes allows me to make work both inside and outside institutional contexts.”
As a part of my practice I participate in skill-sharing and DIY forms of knowledge. I learn how to do something, document the process, and facilitate other people learning the same skill. I’m interested in the potential for skill-sharing methodologies to form respectful relationships and create less-hierarchical spaces for learning.
The objects are simple designs, often with functional qualities: a bench, a table, a chair, clothes and hats, etc. Skills are initially acquired through either one-on-one lessons when possible or through online research and tutorials.
The self-imposed parameters for this work were: that the object would be useful to the IMA both during and after the Making Art Work project, that some new skills would be learnt in the process of making the object, and that the process of making the work would be enjoyable.
—Sarah Poulgrain
Sarah Poulgrain, A Structure to Fold and Hang, 2020, mild steel and fleece, 240 x 240 x 240 cm
Sarah Poulgrain has shown nationally and internationally at several ARIs (Outer Space, Boxcopy, Firstdraft, Metro Arts, Success, Visual Bulk, Bus Projects, RM, Desire Lines) and co-founded Wreckers Artspace with Hailey Atkins and Anya Swan. In early 2019 Sarah received an Australia Council Individual Project Grant to develop new work and has continued work on long-term Brisbane based projects. Sarah facilitated the Institute of Modern Art’s First Thursday program in October last year with a chair building project, where four participants learnt how to weld a chair of their own design.