sarah bennett

 

souls/soles

Souls/soles (1999) critiques social and spatial positioning in the former parish church of Honiton, Devon, through the placement of silhouettes of pairs of eighteenth-century shoes. The thin layers of charcoal dust, referencing a series of fires that destroyed large parts of the town and latterly the church itself, acted both as indices of an absent congregation, but also as indicators of class, wealth, ownership, occupation and gender i.e. hierarchical social relations are played out in spatial codes and conventions in this physical and discursive site.

Research material regarding the project was displayed at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton.
souls/soles image


Souls/soles drawing of 18th c shoeSouls/soles charcoal footprint on church floorSouls/soles charcoal pair of footprint on church floorSouls/soles charcoal pair of footprint on church floor IISouls/soles charcoal footprint on church floor IISouls/soles burnt alterpiece

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