Joshua Copland-Nielsen

This work alludes to the intimacies of the domestic space. It utilises natures of printmaking, sculpture and drawing through animation and mark-making, bringing the object to the floor of the gallery. In dealing with the grief of my mother passing, succumbing to cancer in 2021; Last Legs describes the painful act of dying, and gradual loss of ability. Wooden table legs casted into silicone, the object attempts to hold itself up but cannot. Last Legs expresses pain and struggle to stay on ones legs, and the nurturing nature of caring for the terminally ill. My narrative as a carer for my mother is elaborated via an attempt to give someone a sense of decency before demise; doing anything to resurrect and stop deaths road. These silicone chair legs act as an attempt to stabilise an inevitable problem that cannot be solved. The overall thematic, queries our lack of ability to accept death and give up on someone we truly love.