Images of Invisible Lives
21 st April - 31st July 2001
AT THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL GALLERY
Exchange Values: Images of Invisible Lives is a social sculpture project by Shelley Sacks in collaboration with banana growers of the Windward Islands and representative organisations.
The basis of the installation is formed by stitched ‘sheets of skin’ from 20 randomly selected boxes of Windward Island bananas. The artist traced each box back to its origin in the Caribbean and recorded the voices of the growers. These recordings accompany each sheet of skin.
Through the situation of the banana producers and the effects of ‘free trade’ in one particular region of the world , EXCHANGE VALUES emphasises the interconnections between producers and consumers in our complex global economy and our roles as ‘artists’ in re-envisioning our world.
Through the integration of the aesthetic and the political in this work an imaginative space is created in which we can engage with the re-shaping and transforming of our lives and our society, and explore ways to develop a more participatory and sustainable society. This expanded workspace where we work with the invisible materials available to us all, where the personal and social imagination moves and weaves, is a creative space accessible to all.
EXCHANGE VALUES, begun over 20 years ago, has brought together a whole spectrum of people: activists, farmers, economists, government ministers and officials, ecological campaigners, artists, psychotherapists, engineers, cultural geographers, writers and, of course, consumers.
A number of ‘social sculpture’ forums have taken place during the course of the project: whilst collecting the skins from members of the public over two weekends in the centre of Nottingham, where free bananas were given out in exchange for their skins; in the Windward islands with growers and sustainable development activists; and in the social sculpture forums that take place alongside the physical installation.
Special Thanks to the Social Sculpture Research Unit for its contribution to this site
