She/Her
Operating within a new-materialist ontology, my practice consolidates sculptural media, found objects and displaced technologies to generate lively outcomes. In my exhibition piece, Maintain and Nurture, I render the concept of ‘agential matter’ as tangible – visually communicating the process of ‘intra-action’ through thermochromic, bioplastic structures.
Through the material’s receptive properties, I prompt a reconsideration of artistic objects as agential forces, critiquing the authority an artist holds to displace non-human matter.
Within the narrative of my installation, aquariums become instruments of the Anthropocene, confining their contents to the aesthetic.
Informed by the Bioart movement, I choose to relinquish a level of control to the non-human operatives within my work. Fluctuations in colour, structural integrity, and odour collaborate to produce spontaneous visual outcomes – demonstrating the liveliness of the bioplastic composite.
Encased in a system of pumps, heaters, and tubing, human-infested waters circulate through the installation. Traces of plastic, medication, and other pollutants invade the material, ultimately dissolving it. This subtle display of intra-action bypasses the boundary of the vitrine, exemplifying that the forces of agency are not ours to govern.
The devices intended to ‘maintain’ the bioplastic composite do little to that effect, instead providing the illusion of security – performing their menial tasks to the audience’s satisfaction. As such, the imperatives ‘maintain’ and ‘nurture’ are satirical, with the structures undergoing a slow decomposition over the progression of the exhibition.
If you’d like to see more, visit my website at https://www.giorgia-mitchell-art.co.uk/ and get in contact!
