Borders are highly charged zones electrified by tension and the possibility of transgression and transformation.

Boundaries are liminal edges; cross the line and something will happen.

Whether you move from one country to another, step from a private place into the public arena, penetrate someone’s personal space, or flaunt a social taboo; breeching a border is a point of transition. Because of this borders are seductive, they exert an almost magnetic pull.

Border Zones explores intimate boundaries and the heady combination of intimacy and anxiety that surrounds them.

Tracey Clement
2005-2006

Border Zones consists of two sculptures: Border Zones (seven life-sized tulle figures) and Perimeter (a double blanket made from thread, buttons and pins).

The lifesize ‘skins’ comment on the notion that the body is like a garment that can be nipped and tucked in the quest for (unobtainable) perfection.

Perimeter highlights the fragility and danger of intimate relationships.

The work was first shown in 2005, in the Post Graduate Degree Show, SCA.  In 2006, an expanded version of Border Zones became my first solo exhibition at Groundfloor Gallery, Sydney. In 2009, the work formed part of my solo show, Tracey Clement: Recent(Hard)Work at Elements Art Gallery, Perth, WA.

Photos: Tracey Clement