installations

wallpaper nets and handbags
Monument 1(mother), 2(father) and 3(children) 2002
Installation by David Rogers

David Rogers returned to making his own work with Monuments 1 and 2. Both parents had died in 1987 within six months of each other, his father from lung cancer followed by his mother’s suicide. Monument 3 (2002) reunited the whole family once more. It follows the 4 siblings from childhood through to adulthood, to the point of leaving home.

David Rogers artist and Stephen Preston musician, worked with residents and transient people in the Hastings area, to create a sound and video work, demythologising ‘romantic’ ideas of travel, comparing and contrasting historical aspects with current social concerns.

Visually the work represents the physical and mental discomfort of travel and arrival – the piece coaxed the viewer into questioning the social acceptability of smuggling and the misconception of free movement.

The accompanying soundscape drew on the expectations of a variety of travellers to Hastings, holiday makers, commuters, foreign students, the homeless and asylum seekers. The combination of sounds from the local environment, contrasted with the spoken words and sounds that the travellers bring with them, illustrated the conflict between expectation and reality.

September 2000, installed in both the Hastings West Hill Funicular Railway carriages. During which the public were required to hold a valid (complimentary) travel permit/visa, issued by the lift operators when they purchased a ticket, for their journey.

qua (by virtue of being) [D] (removal) rille (a channel)

a Year of the Artist project

video by David Rogers
sound by David Rogers and Stephen Preston