Offerings for Janus
Taking duality as making instruction, Mark took instruction from the dormant state of the Archive at Sunny Bank Mills. Inspired by ideas of keeping that assist vocalisation of storytelling, he spliced this with notions of beguiling intersections of cost and worth observed within the collection. Together with the active rhythm of the buildings historical life, Mark became interested with how a pulse of place haunted the new. Tugging at the veil of lived and to be lived narratives witnessed by the buildings body and the new societal activities.
This in-between-ness floated tailoring ideas around the god Janus, concealed objects as spells within buildings structures, and the shifting possibilities of sub-narratives through making.
With references to the staples from boxes and identification labelling housed within the Mills’ Archive, Mark began to converge archival questions to the behaviours of his own studio practice. This actioned considerations for offcuts and remains, to make spells to act as ‘potential locaters’ for the status quo, and consequently becoming in flux as charged offerings to Janus.
