When It's Gone, It's Gone
When It’s Gone It’s Gone was an exhibition of installation and sculpture at A Small View gallery in Liverpool, which expanded on a piece commissioned by Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, for the exhibition Miniature World. Through a combination of miniature and full-scale objects, the work invites the viewer to consider our use of dwindling natural resources.
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Helium is a finite resource, which dwindled to the point of scarcity in recent years until the discovery of a new reserve in 2016. It is an essential resource required in the operation of MRI scanners and is an element which, once released, escapes the Earth’s atmosphere completely and cannot be retrieved. When it’s gone, it really is ‘gone’!
When It’s Gone, It’s Gone
Mixed media installation, variable dimensions, 2017
When It’s Gone, It’s Gone is an installation, which comprises a series of ‘helium’ balloons in various states of inflation that have drifted up to the ceiling. A closer inspection reveals, that these are actually miniature MRI scanners, which have become detatched from the patient tables below.
He He
Helium balloons, helium, 2017
He He is a developing, durational installation, originally shown in the window area of the gallery at Gostin's Arcade, and which changed over the course of the exhibition. The title of the work He He is constructed from the chemical symbol for helium (He) while simultaneously referencing the laugh resulting from the surreptitious act of inhaling helium.
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As the show coincided with the second birthday of A Small View, the installation began with two balloons and a quota of was added to the space over the subsequent Saturdays until the disposable canister of helium gas was completely empty.
