Jessie on the title

I have to admit that the more I think about it, the more uneasy I am with the title of the exhibition, although as this is what Polly is aiming for I guess we're on to a good thing.

Unkept. It sounds too much like a made up word to sit quite right with me in this context.  I say it to myself over and over, willing it almost to become unkempt, wanting to add the extra letter that feels so lacking.

I associate it more with not honouring something, like an unkept appointment or a broken promise.

But unkempt. Refers more to a persons appearance I think then a general neglect of a space.

Perhaps then in this instance the choice of word is correct?

So unkept. As in untidy, forgotten about, uncared for...

I think part of what unsettles me is that I would never associate my practice with these words.

Nothing in the making of a work is neglected - from the site, to the material, to the title - I can spend days (or even weeks if I have the time) deliberating over tiny details. My studio may be a mess, and I may work with humble spaces or materials, but the final outcome is always far from unke(m)pt. I am usually on the ground amongst the grit, the dirt, and the dust, but I also spend as much time cleaning the site as I do making the work - sweeping, mopping, picking up rubbish, getting rid of excess material - doing whatever I can to make sure it's just my work in the space and nothing else. My attention to detail in this regard borders on obsessive and I associate anything else with laziness, as not enough effort, as in I could have done better.

I guess this paradox is the point of the exhibition? But I wonder...

Can I still consider a site unkept if I'm elevating the lowliest of materials to a higher state? Celebrating the grime and the muck and the chewing gum? Repairing the breaks? Cleaning the space? Surely this is the opposite? Surely I am 'keeping' a space, a material? Showing it care, giving it attention.

Is it enough to use the word if the action or outcome is the polar opposite?

I am still more than a little unsure, but I am confused and questioning of much these days.

I will muse on this further and write more at a later date.