Karen Trask

L’UNE FAIT LIRE L’AUTRE
02.13–03.09.1997

What is space? Do we perceive it as feminine—a mere passive receptacle for holding things? Or is it also a dynamic element, inextricably linked to time; or perhaps the measure that exists between you and me?

Two years ago, following a major life change, I felt an immense need for a space that was open, white, and—above all—empty. This space manifested physically in a room in my home: a large, curved white wall. What I did not know was that I needed to fill this void. Message after message to my long-deceased mother was pinned there. I was very young when my mother died; I have few memories of her. Gradually, I began to identify this empty space as a “Mother-space”—one I needed to reinvent in order to become a mother’s daughter.

For me, the interest of this project lies in the in-between—that space where the relationship between two people, two surfaces, or various materials is forged through the confrontation and interplay of elements. Through sculpture and writing, I present to you this space situated between myself and an absent mother: an empty place, a whisper in a room.

Text: Karen Trask, 1997