Copyright Rachel Gadsden 2001-2007. No images or material on this site may be used or reproduced in any format without prior written permission from Rachel Gadsden.

Contemporary British Artist

Statement

Poetics of Decay

Rachel is considering themes of decay, nostalgia and fragility during her artistic exploration of the derelict North Wales Asylum in Denbigh North Wales and Cane Hill Asylum in Surrey.

The derelict space/building becomes the perfect metaphor for the physical and psychological nature of the human condition. The decomposing building is a tangible representation for the decaying body. The sublime beauty of the deteriorating shell holds secrets that are exposed as the building slowly disintegrates. The artwork captures hidden stories that are trapped between the layers of dust and mortar, and objectively allows the inner thoughts and emotions of lost individuals to be heard.

On the surface, derelict buildings can evoke death and inertia. Seemingly dormant on the landscape, at best they are overlooked; at worst they symbolize failure. Rachel is challenging these assumptions.

Re-tracing how the opposition between inside and outside informs our experience of space and place, and how in turn the inside of space can often become inaccessible to the outside, Rachel’s hopes to present an affirmative light. Rather than having a negative value, decay can be both aesthetically rich as well as clarifying issues related to accessibility and inaccessibility.

Remaining heedful to how buildings can often mirror subjective experiences, Rachel explores the asylum’s dereliction in such a way that it provides a metaphorical voice for those whom inside and outside are not merely architectural issues but human ones too.

The work captures the building’s struggle to survive and inevitable demise as the rot and decay infiltrates its soul, possibly representing a tangible evocation of our own impermanence.