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| Ann-Marie Tully, Ball and claw (prototype), 2014. Found chair, 'grafted' ball and claw feet, mannequin hand. |
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Ann-Marie Tully, Ball and claw (prototype) (detail), 2014. Found chair, 'grafted' ball and
claw feet, mannequin hand.
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This is a prototype for a series of sculptural furniture pieces I want to continue with that draw attention to just how weird the 'ball and claw' motif is: dismembered animal claws/paws supporting tables and chairs, propping up our human pursuits - a decorative device in keeping with humanity's exploitation of, and cruelty towards non-human life and the environment!
I am interested in how swopping out the generalised animal claws for clenched human hands (and other related positions) would shift the hierarchical paradigm; also conjuring up histories where 'Other' groups of humans have been rendered to the level of 'animal support' for more 'privileged' groups - the differentiation of which is sketched along the same lines as animal/human difference.
This is a prototype because the mannequin hand is not seamless enough with the chair or the furniture genre. My next step is to do castings of my own hands in 'ball and claw' positions. What was successful in my view was the 'grafting' of ball and claws from another piece onto this simple chair. There is a violence in the gesture that needs to be continued in all the pieces ...
This chair was included in Gordon Froud's Cathedra (Chair) exhibition, which toured 2014, continuing in 2015:
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