No Wealth but Life (2022)
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| No Wealth but Life; 29.11.22 Photograph by Gabi Proszowska @GabiProArtis ; thegabeye.com |
No Wealth but Life (2022)
.as exhibited at:
arkade Gallery
Anatomy Rooms
Aberdeen
.from 30th November 2022
to 4th December 2022
Exhibition Opening Times 11am-4pm
No Wealth but Life Operating Hours
Friday 2nd December: 10am - 2pm
Saturday 3rd December: 10am - 2pm
Sunday 4th December: 12pm-4pm
Introduction:
When your world turns upside-down, what is it that is most important? What will see you through today, tomorrow? When you have nothing, where do you start? What do you need to begin to build a life? I mean a real, human, valuable Life – one that is worth something?
In this work I have taken a set of Human Values and transposed them into the form of a currency. In total there are Thirteen Values – one for each denomination of Pound Sterling. The order of Values (ie. That Health is 100; Safety is 50) was decided by a polling system. I made small cards with the thirteen Values on them and asked people to arrange them in order of most to least important to them. I then averaged out the answers to provide the current ranking.
This work is a response to my experience working within the Homeless Sector. Combined with the Pandemic, my time within that role made me question much about the structure of society, it’s inherent unfairness and the ways in which people are set up to fail. What people were asking for, and the problems and issues arising from their diverse situations, were so much greater and endemic than was fixable by just having shelter.
I collected these words:
Beauty
Confidence
Friendship
Health
Hope
Intelligence
Morality
Possessions
Resilience
Safety
Sustenance
Understanding
Warmth
I see these Values as interlinked. They are woven together, co-dependent, leaning on each other. Sometimes someone has one, or two. But there are gaps – gaping holes - the fabric of life is torn. Often, purses and pockets are empty. The Values creak, groan, and strain under the weight of being asked to count for too much. Yet we must ask them to be enough until the end of today, until tomorrow.
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| No Wealth but Life; 29.11.22 Photograph by Gabi Proszowska @GabiProArtis ; thegabeye.com |
About the work:
This work is an interaction – a transaction between you and me.
I invite you to exchange an object with me for one of my Values: Health; Safety; Warmth; Sustenance andIntelligence. These values have been realised in the form of paper currency notes, printed using the Risograph at Peacock.
I encourage you to put your chosen Value in your wallet, purse or phone case (wherever you might usually keep paper currency), carrying it with you day-to-day, absorbing the Value, letting the note become scuffed and worn, a part of your everyday experience, until you hardly notice it at all.
I will record our transaction on a serial numbered Transaction Slip, displaying the object and slip in the large wooden cabinet for the duration of the exhibition.
About the design of the Notes:
I based my design on the blocking and colour-scheme of Clydesdale Bank notes Famous Scots Series which has been fully withdrawn from circulation. I have signed the notes under the Guise of Chief Value Officer, which directly mimics the signature of the Chief Operating Officer (as of 2009) of Clydesdale Bank: David Thornton.
Banknotes usually depict what authorities want us to celebrate, and so I have adorned my Value Notes with unsung Civic and Public structures that form an alternate set of Landmarks in a city that would likely prefer to be known for it’s Palace, Castle, and the Royal Yacht Britannia.
100 Muirhouse Mansions and May Court
50 The Calders
20 HMP Edinburgh
10 Old and New The Access Place
5 Wester Hailes (Shopping Centre and Library)
In no way and in no form are the notes produced as part of 'No Wealth but Life (2022)' intended as counterfeits of Pound Sterling or any other Currency. The depiction of Human Values as Currency in the work ‘No Wealth but Life (2022)’ is an allegory.
