Y A N K E E L O N D O N S T U D I O
Musings from a Yankee artist abroad in London...
Obsidian Mirror
The picture above was taken at the British Museum. Most recently I have been thinking about obsidian mirrors, palimpsests, and reflecting pools, as these three examples have a sort of temporal and spatial dissonance in common. Viewers looking at a mirror or reflecting pool see both themselves and the surface of the object, including scratches and marks created over time that imprint over or under the reflection. The viewer’s reflection is captured in the present, alongside the marks that evidence the past—the history of the mirror itself is separate from the viewer’s current reflection, resulting in an intersection of time, the material presence of a frame, and a relationship to space. The question of contemplation is the basis for establishing and grounding my research, but the trajectories of that research are yet unknown.
