Blank Expression 2018
Installation | Post-it notes | Tate Modern, London / Slade School of Art, London / Bow Road, London
Installation | Post-it notes | Tate Modern, London / Slade School of Art, London / Bow Road, London
Blank Expression identifies the passive aggressive nature of Post-it notes, exposing the subtle impact of deceptively genial authority on the body. The colour palette adapts to the surrounding architecture with a confrontational pixel-like graphic akin to Constructivist aesthetics. Inviting people to walk with the work, the door’s motion triggers notes to flutter to the floor, spreading across the exhibition space. In perpetual flux, colours reconfigure as an entropic protest retaliating to potential requests.
Photo: Rosie Cooper
Photo: Rosie Cooper
Blank Expression, remade in the colours of the LGBTQ+ flag, was affixed to a house door, a threshold between private and public. Messages such as 'don't judge' and 'live by the sun' were organically inscribed. This communal expression underscores the tension between visibility and erasure - each note a fleeting act of speech vulnerable to the elements, mirroring broader societal dialogues around queer identity, resistance and the impermanence of public discourse.
