Jasmine Forbes

Hang in There, Baby

Sculpture - BA (Hons)

School of Art

jasmineforbes42@gmail.com

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Instillation showing fencing helmet, swords and a cat

'Hang in there baby' Arrangement in ECA, 2021, 200cm w, 150cm l, 120 cm H

Bio

I aim to muddle the dichotomy of tame and wild by exploring intimacy and proximity to companion species and de-linearating linear leisure objects. I work collaboratively with a parasite called Toxoplasma Gondii, who gifts me images. This parasite was introduced to me by my now dead cats excrement. I fixate on the domestic cat, and use her as an analogy of femininity, and as an intermediary between tame and wild. I also aim to explore the concealment of natural infrastructure in sports and leisure activities, specifically fencing, using the sports' objects as a physical metonym for themes of competition and evolution. By use of my own invented process, spiralisation, I want to debase and deconstruct the linear forms we consider sophisticated and separated from the natural world. I create narratives exploring popular science, biological quirks and conspiracy falsehoods, in order to better understand our relationships to non-human animals and sites of leisure in the time of ecological crisis.

'Hang in there baby' Arrangement in ECA, 2021, 200cm w, 150cm l, 120 cm H

Project Description

This instillation was created collaboratively with a parasite I am infected with, that was introduced to by my late cat’s excrement. The cats are aggressive in their posture, though their teeth tails and claws have been docked rendering them silly, harmless, objects to gawk at and video. One of the cats is emmiting a fog; it is catnip, it is fresh and minty. Much like Jesus on the cross, someone’s flip-flop tan-lined feet have been impaled by two foil-like objects cementing them where they stand. There’s a fencing helmet rendered in dough, observing the situation, flaking away and crumbling like a forgotten 3-week-old white bloomer. Theres this big triangle of jenga made to look like parquet flooring, emerging like an upturning iceberg from the floor. These works are means of exploring our relationships with companion species, their histories and natures and how we are reliant and consumed by them.

U look Familiar, 2021, Oil on canvas,

Tiger Bread, 2021 saltdough, oil, 12cm x 19cm

2 cats swimming up to a baulding man in an ocean holding a mirror

Cat Haircut, 2020, A3, acrylic on paper

Fencing Helmet, 2021, Salt dough and anti-mouse mesh, 32x45x20cm

This cat also has the capabilities of breathing Catnip via an aroma diffuser embedded in the sculpture. Cat-nip is a member of the mint family but also effects feline behaviour. If a cat were to visit this instillation it would be behaviourally altered. I am interested in these biological quirks. Tactility and its evidence in the final work I find satisfying; finger-marks, rust, tape residue will be sprinkled through these images. In terms of the parquet flooring for example, the glue is what I aim to highlight via flocking