Orestina’s Gathering
Seven fragments have been gathered to form a miniature piazza; much as individual buildings can be arrayed to successfully form a collective ‘public’ space. In the case of Orestina’s Gathering, each fragment characterises a threatened species in the Himalayan highlands. Their faces, like building facades, cohere to jointly form a place at their centre. The oval void gazed upon by the creatures is not tiled like a civic element, but woven from wool and silk, its contoured pattern indicating what was once a lake, now a tiny azure puddle.
As a seating arrangement carrying the beguiling character of animals that so often charms humans, the piece is open to serve purposes and bring pleasure in usage. In this way it tends towards being a design and tends away from being art. It might form a sub-place within a larger setting; provide for intimate conversation; or prompt valuing of collective activity just as courtyards so often tempt, compared to objects which need to be regarded in the round and thus so often disappoint.
Photographs by Nadirah Clark