ARTIST REVIEW
MAPPING THE BIOLOGICAL. As both a sculptor and chronically ill sufferer of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E) or chronic fatigue syndrome as it is more familiarly called, writing this review clarified for me what a personal and subjective experience viewing art is. It is exciting to see the relationship between science and art - which are both interests of mine – being explored in a visual medium. As an M.E. sufferer, 'The Biological' was an unfamiliar journey into the familiar.
A visual exploration of something which is not typically palpable. Yas Crawford's work is an invitation to see this little understood condition through an artistic lens; to take an, often discomforting, journey down the rabbit hole of chronic illness. Each image sparked a sense of recognition and yet ventured into a complex, varied and seldom trodden landscape, allowing me to witness the beauty of an illness which has been so physiologically detrimental. Her work beautifully documents an attempt to glimpse the unseen; to visualise the fragile and dynamic relationship between internal and external. And, fascinatingly, to express the otherworldly nature of inhabiting a body which has become an alien environment. The micro and macro is beautifully communicated and highlights a relationship which is so crucial and yet so often overlooked.
There is an unsettling edge to the images, as I think there should be - the subject itself is unsettling, especially, the cyclical and often inescapable nature of chronic illness. The progression from natural and biological to medical and technological in Yas’s work accurately mirrors the journey experienced by chronic illness sufferers.When it comes to communicating the nature of the illness, the strength of the images lies in their fractures, the repetition, the overlaying of one thing on top of another, the meeting of the internal and the external and their inherent other-worldliness. For me personally, the bleaching of the colour palette, contrasted with the sudden shocks of colour very effectively expresses how I experience the world as a woman with ME.
In short, Yas Crawford’s work offers a way in, a way to view the abstract beauty of a world which is unfamiliar and often intimidating to many. Mapping 1, The Biological provides a platform for further questions, research and discovery. Questions which must be asked. Research which is direly needed. And discovery which, with the aid of time and attention, can only be inevitable.
Nicola Rigby. Artist, Contemporary Figurative Sculptor.