Jenna Barbe

Artist Statement

Sheathed

Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, 2018

My practice explores the duality of existing in two worlds, often at conflict with one another: the inner and outer body. The inner body is one described by emotion. The outer body is the physical image portrayed to the social world. I draw on the metaphor of the sea and my relationship with it through surfing to articulate this conflict.

‘Sheathed’ is an immersive work that situates the body of the viewer in relation to a cocoon or shell-like form constructed from reject surfboard blanks. The formation of the shell or cocoon suggests protection, transformation and movement as the viewer experiences a shift from outer to inner body upon entering the structure. My visual references for the work include Stony coral because of its intrinsic nature to build up a hard outer shell to protect a delicate body. The inner cavity of the work will be lit such that the shadows cast through the thin carved walls will in turn engage with the audience outside.

I explore an embodied experience in my installation that references the protective body structures of coral and molluscs. Linking a human experience of inner and outer body with that of undersea creatures is one that draws on an Expanded Environmental Philosophy, drawn particularly from Feminist readings of Aldo Leopold’s 1949 “The Land Ethic” essay that advocated a moral imperative to preserve, love and respect the biotic community. In line with many other Environmental Feminist readings, I position my embodied and empathetic relationship to the sea as a powerful and healing form of human renewal. By displacing humanity as conqueror of the Earth to that of co-habitant of the biotic community, our interdependency as a species upon the wellbeing of the planet can be fully realised. My work seeks to bring the tool of my engagement with the ocean, the surfboard, into relationship with my environmental humanity, with the duality of an inner and outer body.

My installation addresses the curatorial concerns of engaging ”new paradigms in which humans [can] participate.” I hope to create a sublime experience, one engaging the body of the viewer that can disrupt perceptions of inner and outer dualities.