I have been working with video and photography for some time, extracting figures from the image to leave only shadows. The passage of people across the architectural square suggested an image of marks or traces; shadows representing their past movements and perhaps the future of other pathways.
For this exhibition, Jacqueline Pennell has transposed the shadows of three teenage girls from a Venetian forecourt into the predominantly ‘masculine’ Economist plaza. The young women were photographed by Pennell during the previous summer, the time of day making their shadows a captivating presence. The photographs provided images from which the sculptures have now emerged. Made from cast rubber, the flat and translucent sculptures have been enlarged to exaggerate the shadows’ presence.
In Pennell’s work, reflections, shadows, light, architectural space and the figure are used as devices to explore a sense of another space existing within our own physical space. The shadow, often depicted as symbolizing the soul, also represents proof of one’s existence, as matter that blocks out light. Pennell is based in London and is a lecturer at Goldsmiths College.
She completed her MA at Chelsea College of Art and Design in 1993 and has exhibited widely in the UK. Solo exhibitions include Solo, Shillam + Smith 3, 1997, andMirror Mirror, Whitechapel Open with Rear Window, 1996. Forthcoming exhibitions include Dopplarity, Bank Underground Station, 16 August to 16 September 2000.