Resilience, 1631 holes

On 26th January 2021, 1631 deaths were recorded, the same day that the overall death toll for the UK hit 100,000. The UK government put in place a third national lockdown. We remained under restrictions for some time with our resilience wearing thin, the physical, emotional and physiological impact of working from home, of isolation, and social distance. Resilience, 1631 holes is a sculptural meditation on our time under pandemic. Reflecting on how this experience has manifested itself, and the effects of it upon us?

In Resilience, 1631 holes, artist Hannah Honeywill follows instructions to assemble an Ikea IVAR flat-pack chair (the IVAR chair from Ikea has been chosen due global availability, economic accessibility and ubiquitous nature). 1631 holes are drilled into the chair, the sawdust created from the drilling is collected and made into a paste with wood glue. Honeywill uses this paste to fill the holes that have been drilled in the chair. The paste are left to dry and then sanded back to a smooth finish. The soundtrack are segments of interviews of people talking about their experiences of life under the COVID-19 restrictions.

 

 

Bio

Hannah Honeywill is an award-winning artist and researcher, currently undertaking a PhD studentship at Coventry University within The Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities (CAMC). Honeywill has exhibited widely throughout the UK and Europe, she has been the recipient of Wellcome Trust funding and has undertaken residencies at the Barber Institute of Fine Art in Birmingham and the Chisenhale Studios in London. She is an elected member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors.
 
Honeywill is an artist-maker, combining her skills as both a sculptor and a furniture maker/restorer to make work, which reimagines and physically reshapes functional, everyday objects – frequently, but not exclusively, furniture. Her practice develops the argument that the ‘mend’, especially if disruptive of a common sense or expected narrative, will function as a queering tool within sculpture and drawing.

See more of Hannah Honeywill's work at the artist's website.