Helen Barff
Stack
jesmonite
2018
Helen Barff is a sculptor, living and working in London. She graduated from Goldsmiths College in Fine Art and Art History BA (hons) in 1999 and completed a drawing MA at Camberwell College of Art in 2004. She has exhibited in various locations in the UK and internationally.
I work with found objects and materials such as felt, plaster, concrete, rubber or photographic surfaces, using processes such as wrapping, casting or other interventions in space and surface. I am interested in how materials are shaped by temporality, or how memory becomes embedded in matter. A sensitivity to touch is central to my practice.
My recent work has explored autobiographical memories contained in belongings, particularly clothing. I began by recording a series of ‘wardrobe interviews’, where I ask volunteers to choose and discuss 4 items of clothing that have a particular memory of place, time or person. This led to ongoing collaborative research and projects that have demonstrated the importance of clothing in maintaining identity for displaced people.
My casting process involves stitching the clothing, filling it with the casting material, then I peel the fabric off revealing the solid, weighty cast.
“…Barff explores through communications and conversations with people that span a wide demographic. Clothing is cast into objects, presented at eye, ground and way above our head level, as though animated with life’s force; others have more complex forms that are inflated or deflated with various components. These anthropomorphic installations of sculptural works, some seated others hanging suspended, their weight and fullness parody physicality itself. Barffs’ works reveal a keen interest in humanity and its fragile, emotional core. The sculptures rise and fall like the breath, inspired by the adventures of memory and being human.” Freeny Yianni
Photo: Cameron Vincent
