my work
University of Reading
Manifestations of power In her work Robyn takes long established images of power and influence and recontextualizes them in unusual situations.
In her first series of works she uses a statue of the Virgin Mother and Infant Christ that she obtained from a local church, initially to effect repairs to it.
The Madonna and Child is one of the iconic images in the History of Art and one that has produced a powerful relationship between viewer and object. This has applied in both religious settings (where it adorns the walls and chapels of thousands of Roman Catholic churches and acts as a focus for prayer and contemplation) and on the walls of museums and art galleries where it has formed the subject of many paintings over hundreds of years.
Robyn has taken this image, via her statue, and sought to question this formal relationship by removing it from its church context. In her photographs she stands holding the Madonna juxtaposed with images of the desert, a packed cathedral and inner city riots. Inadvertently, however, the statue forms the shape of a cross with her own body and perhaps poses another question about power.
In another set of works she takes an iconic symbol of power - the political map - and sets out to deconstruct and subvert its power. Maps of the world have been used through the centuries to show the growth of empires and up to the Second World War the shade of red indicated the great spread of the British Empire across the continents.
Robyn takes these ‘power’ maps and literally deconstructs them, tearing them into narrow shards, exploring the authority they represent. Then, taking the sculptures of Fred Sandback as her starting point, she hangs the shards in vertical and horizontal structures from ceiling to floor, replacing their original certainty with a new fragility.
Though her two sets of works employ different media and subject matter Robyn’s work has at its heart the question of power. Power structures are transitory even though they may seem to be, at the height of their influence, invincible. Her ongoing work is exploring manifestations of power in communal and personal settings.
Gerry Wyld, MA History of Art & Architecture
The publication
In her first series of works she uses a statue of the Virgin Mother and Infant Christ that she obtained from a local church, initially to effect repairs to it.
The Madonna and Child is one of the iconic images in the History of Art and one that has produced a powerful relationship between viewer and object. This has applied in both religious settings (where it adorns the walls and chapels of thousands of Roman Catholic churches and acts as a focus for prayer and contemplation) and on the walls of museums and art galleries where it has formed the subject of many paintings over hundreds of years.
Robyn has taken this image, via her statue, and sought to question this formal relationship by removing it from its church context. In her photographs she stands holding the Madonna juxtaposed with images of the desert, a packed cathedral and inner city riots. Inadvertently, however, the statue forms the shape of a cross with her own body and perhaps poses another question about power.
In another set of works she takes an iconic symbol of power - the political map - and sets out to deconstruct and subvert its power. Maps of the world have been used through the centuries to show the growth of empires and up to the Second World War the shade of red indicated the great spread of the British Empire across the continents.
Robyn takes these ‘power’ maps and literally deconstructs them, tearing them into narrow shards, exploring the authority they represent. Then, taking the sculptures of Fred Sandback as her starting point, she hangs the shards in vertical and horizontal structures from ceiling to floor, replacing their original certainty with a new fragility.
Though her two sets of works employ different media and subject matter Robyn’s work has at its heart the question of power. Power structures are transitory even though they may seem to be, at the height of their influence, invincible. Her ongoing work is exploring manifestations of power in communal and personal settings.
Gerry Wyld, MA History of Art & Architecture
The publication
