The note

So last week we visited GBK to see Johnathon Jones works and Breenspace to see Kate Murphys work. Initially i was drawn to Johnathon Jones work because of the use of light and reflection and also because i disliked Kate Murphys work and found it dull as i didn't understand it. But actually it was my fault as i didn't put two and two together, only when i was told it was about suicide of a close family friend did i see the true meaning and beauty in her piece.

After this new found knowledge i was able to discover and approach her work from a new angle and it was cold and detached, why? Because of the space between each image and how they were placed on eh walls especially the music how it was lined up at the at they end of the gallery and not framed to glorify it but to see it just as it is, in this time almost as if it was just blue tacked on the wall. Even though the letters seen on the wall and in the video were filled with happier memories and jokes the feeling of loss and sadness created through space and imagery pierced right through jokes to me.

One thing i found quite cool about the concepts behind her work in creating it is her complex process to getting to what we see in the gallery. And after my research i was left more amazed.
Murphy get very involved with the four key things that make her work work. which are the installation the work it's self either in multiple screens or images, the gallery which it is going in, the space between her works as this creates the atmosphere and amplifies the effect on viewer which the last point as then it in turn how you will perceive her work and move round it and what you will think of it.

The use of multiple screens and images in her piece work with the space around to create the feelings of the friend who committed suicide. the white sterile walls with the white A4 pages in a line create a sense of absence. the Image on the wall by its self with just the red seat disappearing into the black back ground with old microphone is a serene and soft image but with the clear focus on the microphone with no one there at it and with the singer been able to be heard as you go through the gallery brings again to my mind the "loss" and emptiness that has been left for the friends and family to deal with.

To me the theme that stood out to me more than "suicide" was the story behind it and how this work is showing us how she wants us and everyone to remember her friend for and not for the fact that she committed suicide. It is a cold and detached still to me but i see a beauty in it as i left that i couldn't see while surrounded by the work. and i think that is what Kate Murphy was trying to create for the viewer and now thinking back on the work the first thing that springs to mind is not the death but more the imagery created by the singer of the love she had for those people and what they had.