RIP A K Horsey

About

As mortals, we all feel the need to leave our mark on the world. With graffiti, aside from the common defacing of an object, there is a yearning for immortality and a desire that the marks we leave will long outlast our short existence. In her solo show at the Black Swan Arts Centre, Beatrice Haines explores this quest through the intentional traces left in the wooden over-bed tables found at Marlborough College's Sanatorium by the resident pupils. Haines records the snippets of text and images scrawled deep into the surface of the tables, offering an intimate insight into the lives, thoughts, feelings and dreams of these students. The installation serves as a poignant reminder of the human spirit with text such as 'Like this table I'm in with a broken leg". It documents personal journeys and suffering with graffiti alluding to individual's illness. Captions such as "PAL Houseman Small Pox, Infantile Paralysis" and "Flu 1948" are all evident and can be deciphered or decoded amongst the cacophony of messages. This moving and life-affirming work by Haines offers another aspect to her constant research on the traces that we both actively and passively leave behind. Beatrice graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2010 and is currently Print Fellow at the Royal Academy of Arts. She lives and works in Wiltshire and London. She will give a talk about her work in the gallery on Sunday 28th September.