25+4
25+4 was a mixed media immersive installation driven by Ray Monday’s personal experiences and the concept of a joint metamorphosis, The visual narrative included 2 short films, 10 mini sculptures, original soundtrack, photographic prints + handmade metal and resin pieces. This was Ray Monday’s first solo exhibition and was held at A-side B-side Gallery East London.
25+4 allowed Ray Monday to explore through her multidisciplinary approach to work creating and curating exhibition spaces using her photographic artworks, film and music.In this deeply immersive experience she explored vunerability and suffocation, interplayed mythology, strength and spiritual awakenings whilst exposing the internal journey of 6 months spent in an intensive care ward visiting her first born incubated child and the cycles of attached emotions.
Gerred Blyth (Department of Brilliant) played a big part in all the technical aspects of filming and projection work.
TRASH
V&E
Interwoven and mapped projected visuals cover these 3D objects and highlight mass conspicuous consumption, mass deforestation and mass landfill.
V created an original haunting soundtrack and as people walked by our main gallery window Christmas shopping we offered some pause for thought. E curated the window space with an old beaten down shopping trolley + plastic full of rubbish all painted white, the rubbish bags hung down as a backdrop for the short film by V&E which interlaced the rush for sale shopping with young children picking through rubbish and dumper trucks dropping off tonnes more rubbish into landfill.
Our collective and ingrained shopping habits, especially over the festive season, clear a path for further destruction of the natural world leaving it an impossible task for any person to really have a wonderful Christmas when the world around us crumbles and melts under the pressure of conspicuous consumption, as many children simply starve.
WHITE ELEPHANT
V&E
The white elephant in the room represented unspoken and deep discomfort people can feel from loneliness or family pressures over Christmas time.
V created an original soundtrack. E curated the window exhibition space. The white elephant in this installation overlooks the dining table, a physical object acting as a metaphor for subjects no one wants to mention at the family Christmas dinner.
This installation addresses issues from addiction, rejection and depression, to suicide. It was intentionally dark. Medicine factories were used in the short film, three nooses hung ominously over the family table. Individual wine glasses had associated words attached.
ray Monday likes to make work which sparks discussion about hidden emotions, working with V we addressed mental health issues sensitively but head on hoping to engage a wider debate, to unearth and strip bare what Christmas can be like for so many people who live in fear of judgement, have suicidal thoughts, or who suffer homelessness and addiction, hinting at emotional ‘band aid solutions’ with a table curated with plastic rats, set under three hanging nooses.
Ray Monday works as a volunteer at a homeless facility in Melbourne and sees first hand issues with mental health and homelessness. This installation was shown in the main gallery window. Both V&E felt drawn to highlighting serious issues often magnified on Christmas holidays when families traditionally gather and outcasts feel more isolated than ever.
DAWN
V&E
Taking inspiration from the pagan festival ‘Imbolc’ which marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox and is symbolic of the light half of the year returning, explores folklore, post pandemic energy shifts, the power of light rising over darkness + the experience of DAWN ascending across the landscapes of consciousness.
This short piece explores the inner journey towards light & embraces new beginnings.
Part of the poem ANTHEM by Leonard Cohen encapsulates the focus of the new work which contemplates the belief that the cracks in humanity are things of beauty, access points for life and to be celebrated.
RING THE BELLS THAT STILL CAN RING / FORGET YOUR PERFECT OFFERING / THERE IS A CRACK IN EVERYTHING / THAT’S HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN.
The music composed for DAWN by V focuses on ascension and the first sighting of light. The artwork deconstructs the idea of the goddess Bridgit at work.
