Jen Martin on Sarah Forrest | Writing Highlight
Part of ONE WORK
In September we’re continuing to highlight the written responses to our ONE WORK series with Jen Martin’s text ‘It is the case that it is raining and it is not raining’ on Sarah Forrest’s ‘The Unit’ (2021). Sarah took part in a ONE WORK event with us in July 2021, presenting and discussing her work, ‘The Unit’ (2021), which through the act of enquiry explores how our senses become heightened as every object encountered could be laced with apparent or hidden meanings.
The overrepresentation of a given subject, leads me to believe that there is something more in perception, in capture, that is sought-after. An expectation of there to be more, something that we are missing, residing in periphery, perhaps the search for a blind spot, the backside or behind of perception.
–Jen Martin, ‘It is the case that it is raining and it is not raining’
Are we seeing what we’re supposed to see? What clues are being hinted at and how are we, the viewer or reader, caught up in the narrative? ‘The Unit’, by Glasgow-based artist Sarah Forrest, takes on the detective novel as its starting point in order to unravel how our attention is shifted when we are on the trail of a sleuthing mystery.
In detecting, the act of inquiry means that our senses become heightened as every object encountered could be laced with apparent or hidden meanings. The detective novel supposes that logic will ultimately triumph over dark forces. We are led from A to B to C in a sequence that foregrounds rationality and precision. It is the triumph of close looking.
The Unit was commissioned for Glasgow International 2021. Supported by Glasgow School of Art (GSA) and Maryhill Burgh Halls.
You can read or listen to Jen read the text by following the link below.
Image description: The dark shadows of a single chair and table are cast over a beige rug laid on a concrete floor.
Part of ONE WORK
ONE WORK is a series of online events that focus closely on a single work. These generous discussions provide an opportunity for an artist to present a recent work and talk through how the work came into being. Each work is available as a month-long online screening, a recorded conversation and a specially commissioned written response.