Bridgette Ashton’s work depicts places and narratives, sometimes real and at other times invented. Her practice includes sculpture, print and participatory works including walks, talks and the making and distribution of publications. In recent works she has engaged with redundant or overlooked sites, objects and archives, making scale-models, depictions and proposals. Finished works are often shown in ways that emphasise their ordinariness while at the same time inviting closer inspection to reveal layers of potential interpretation.
“I am interested in looking at the layers of allegory and interpretation implied in the touristic pleasure of ruin gazing and in the idolatry of the ruin as a ruin rather than the thing it once was.”
Ruin Gazer
For b-side 2016 Bridgette Ashton’s ‘Ruin Gazer’ platform will act as a pavilion, monument, and meeting place inviting audiences to compose a ‘picturesque’ vista of selected ruins on Portland from key vantage points. ‘Ruin Gazer’ will address ideas surrounding the staged heritage implicit in touristic ruins and will encourage questions of authenticity of such sites.
