November 11, 2019
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems that seems to be taking over our generation. Around 1 in 3 of us will experience anxiety at some point in our lives. It might even affect your day-to-day life so badly that it becomes a disorder. American artist, Shana Moulton, has conjured up her alter ego, creating a character named Cynthia as a way to represent the modern-day fight against the stresses of everyday life.
The Zabludowicz Collection has commissioned Moulton’s first institutional solo show in the UK, where visitors can immerse themselves for free in the artist’s new video work and sculptural installations. I took a trip to Chalk Farm to view the exhibition and to better understand the wonderfully wacky world of Shana Moulton.
As you step inside the Zabludowicz Collection, there is an immediate shock factor; I was greeted with a giant pink tower that was almost as high as the ceiling and two surrealist ‘eye-clocks’ glaring at me.
In the center of the Hall sits the pink structure inspired by children’s stacking blocks – the playful kind used at Montessori schools. The bottom block displays a video screen of Cynthia trapped in a tower, referring to a ‘damsel in distress’ or the ‘madwoman in the attic’. This video loop indicates visible, yet isolated, entrapment. You see a glimpse of Cynthia’s aspirations of freedom, however, her confined reality ultimately leads back to ‘anxiety-induced ideals, goals and failures’.
Seven other monitors are embedded in the wood on the face of the tower, decreasing in size as the blocks spiral upwards. Each of these outline steps to self-actualisation and self-healing; they present different forms of coping mechanisms, such as collecting crystals or resorting to astrology and wellness rituals. Viewing this exploration of feminist spirituality felt very momentous considering I was in an airy, former Methodist chapel. The sounds of ringing church bells amplified the work’s religious connotations.
Facing the tower is a large waterfall projected on the wall called The Waterfall of Grief (2019). The name is quite ironic as, for me, it was actually enchanting to watch. The building’s stunning architecture frames this site-specific pool installation, with the two ‘eye-clocks’ forming a watchful presence. Plants are positioned as if falling from the eyes, replicating tears.
In the alcove space to the left is a miniature waterfall – a recurring theme in Moulton’s work – and short video, Whispering Pines 6 (2006). Cynthia completes a jigsaw with a missing puzzle piece that she eventually finds, only to be confronted by her own face fixed with a frozen expression – once again ‘trapped’ within the waterfall.
The Middle Gallery covers Cynthia’s search for meaning in the video installation Personal Steam Interface (2019). As she sits inside a sauna tent, Cynthia types on a keyboard, ‘I am filled with questions. Sometimes my questions are answered. In my heart I know the answer is correct’, followed by her typing ‘who, what, when, where, why and how’ into the Google search bar. Her bewildered facial expressions suggest contrasting elements of ongoing mass confusion. Cynthia heroically leaps out of her boundaries and dances in an outlandish, wild manner until she runs out of energy in ‘an attempt at cyberspace connection’.
Personal Steam Interface is shaped as a stepped structure surrounded by dozens of multi-coloured figurines and glowing, neon lamps. Opposite is Moulton’s Inversion Therapy (2019), a single-channel digital video and multi-function lighted circle arch.
There is something very hypnotising about the Back Gallery. Cynthia acts out her desire to become an environmental activist in the multi-channel video Whispering Pines ∞ (2018), made in collaboration with composer Nick Hallett. Although I was initially perplexed by the storyline, it was strangely beautiful to follow Cynthia’s journey as she climbs up a tree, out of her reclusive lifestyle, ending up in transcendence ‘on top of the world’.
The singing spirit guides whom she met on her ‘quest for enlightenment’ were echoing music around the room, making it a serenely spiritual and operatic experience.
The narratives of this exhibition are uncomfortably relatable. Cynthia is in a heightened state of anxiety, going through a sense of frustration, pain and wonderment. She plays the gullible side of Moulton in pursuit of spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing. As the Zabludowicz Collection states, ‘we join her on flights of imagination as she seeks to escape the mundane’.
‘Humour is my personal way of dealing with the anxiety of life!’ – Shana Moulton.
I personally consider art as one of the best ways to spread a message, however profound or imaginative that message may be. The Zabludowicz Collection is the perfect space for Moulton to showcase her art; the venue works wonders in terms of the overall exhibition experience and you lose all sense of time, with gentle aesthetics of sound and colour. The exhibition is disconcerting yet uplifting and insightful. It is an unsettling confusion of reality. Pop on down to see Shana Moulton’s exhibition for yourself – on until Sunday 15th December 2019.
Find Shana Mouton exhibition at 176 Prince of Wales Road, London, NW5 3PT. Find tickets here for all additional upcoming events.
Tess Hardy
Tess is a Fine Art graduate from the University of Lincoln, now based in South London. Due to being highly passionate about the visual arts in all forms, she is eager to build a career in journalism and gain experience in all aspects of the industry, focusing her writing on fashion, culture and lifestyle.
