Chair Nr. 19 by sonia e barrett

sonia e barrett

Chair Nr. 19, 2013

wood, metal, fabric, nylon

180 x 35 x 40 cm

This is a chair that is jumping, falling, tripping, flying, fighting, dependent on where you stand to see the work. The cushions that used to offer comfort to the people that sat on this chair have been left behind.This translation requires all cushioning between the chair and the other to be abandoned. If the chair falls than there is no cushion to break it's fall. New surfaces will be harder. Perhaps In the context of north south migration we can see that change is not the soft and cushy option rather staying put and put upon can be the soft option. In all the chairs I have worked to re-articulate their agency this is the most independent piece yet the uncertainty about the nature of the forward motion is disturbing. The crest which is where the head should be contains two birds. Family crests are interesting in that they are commissioned by Families who feel bound to a certain geography and lineage and want to express that. They are also created and bought by people who aspire to this rooted-ness and knowledge about the family past. The furniture that has these crests is often made of tropical hardwoods or is surface treated with a dark staining finish to give the impression of Mahogany or an similarly "exotic" wood. The wood has either a history of being uprooted and transported across the sea or is being give a black skin to appear to have this history. For such a chair then indeed to take flight becomes a kind of political statement. As peoples are still being moved today and taking flight because of issues of status and kinship there is a contemporary relevance to this work.

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