Bow Down is a new body of work that reimagines historical acts of ritual as twenty-first century, post-Internet practices. It explores looking at the world through a metaphysical lens and documenting these moments of exploration; a practice in observing physical reality as spiritual marvel.
Each individual piece within the body of work becomes an ontological exploration employing the staying power and contemporary relevance of the talisman – a physical object endowed with power and deified through some supernatural means. This could include material objects like an autographed homerun baseball, Elvis’s sweat, a thrift store t-shirt, original Air Jordan 1s, family heirlooms, etc., but could also include ephemeral relics such as familial myths, blurry photographs, and music compositions. These works document the evolution of objects endowed with supernatural powers, disregarding science and confounding reason.
Religious rites are replaced by daily rituals in a world that strives to navigate the space between unrelenting social connection and disassociation. We’ve built tradition (or redefined it) using 21st century tools and by evoking the same exercises, the same practices, the same ways of life. Just void of meaning or purpose.
The artist’s studio literally becomes a space for ritual, the hand becomes the tool, the found object the talisman, the work the ceremony.
BOW DOWN
Tate Foley
Part of The Orange Year, curatorial climate crisis at the Neon Heater