KATHY ROBINS

Inspired by Svetlana Boym’s The Future of Nostalgia and The Off-Modern, my work explores the process of replacing a world of environmental upheaval, war and economic displacement. Etymologically, the preposition “off” refers to that which is “of”, “from” or “away”, a small linguistic gift co-created by people located outside of dominant languages over the past two centuries. Immigrants. It suggests lives lived on the periphery or in the flux of unexpected transition. In a current global context, for many, the connection to a physical place or home is replaced with more abstract questions of belonging and connection.

The structure of my work sits within grids, used both metaphorically and physically as a reminder of the blockages and closed borders for people on the move as well as the contemporary voices of the not-so-silent grids - of the rise of nationalistic voices upholding the divisions that dictate the relationships between people and space. Overshadowing this too, is the upheaval of our climate and the sense of loss imbued within it. The crossing of borders, both physical and ideological, requires the navigation of grids or terrains into which one is grafted but not fully accepted or rooted. Recognition of the fluidity of physical movement of peoples across the globe and shifting perceptions of human relationship to environment, home, and community, requires reordering of both physical and mental constructs.