Still lives

Object 1: The corrupted object

In Ainsley Hillard's tapestry installation it is the viewer who corrupts. The work is comprised of seven vertical panels hanging from floor to ceiling and spaced about a meter apart to create a three dimensional presence in the gallery space. The pale weavings in monofilament carry darker forms, which from a distance are visible as figures. The spectral and fleeting movement of the figures is created by the forms not being contained by the edges of the weavings - the faint human forms can be glimpsed moving from one panel to another.

As the viewer moves through the vertical tapestries to gain a 'better' look - re-enacting the weaving process its self - the figures dissipate. The view of the figures becomes corrupted by the very act of trying to see them more clearly. The figures cannot be seen from a closer viewpoint - a more complete understanding of the woven image is denied.

But in this denial Hillard forces the viewer to re-consider the materiality of the work and engage with it in a physical and temporal sense, an engagement which is a bodily metaphor for the processes of its making. By consciously employing the viewer's presence as an agent in constructing meaning in the work, and as a corrupting element, Hillard allows a consideration of the power of viewpoints to corrupt understanding of an object - a closer view does not necessarily result in a clearer view, but rather a different one. The 'corrupted' object may not be inherently corrupt, but corrupted by the process of viewing.

• Al Munro
• From the catalogue essay Of lives and objects still
• March 2004

• Ainsley Hillard
• In Passing 2003
• Viscose, monofilament and acrylic
• Photo: Robert Frith

• Ainsley Hillard
• Detail - In Passing 2003
• Viscose, monofilament and acrylic
• Photo: Robert Frith

Next: Object 2: The alienated object

Previous: Introduction