Lauren Shilling

Lauren Shilling’s themes include transformation, memory, decay, and preservation. She uses discarded objects, often vessels for more desirable acts or purposes - packing materials, old rendering, insulation, upholstery foam, cardboard boxes. She collects discarded objects that are usually widely manufactured or objects that take up the ‘negative space’ on either side of a more desirable object. She often refers to them as vessels. The objects are initially familiar to the viewer, yet through modification, Shilling reframes them to create a space of discovery. She transforms the objects in various ways, such as latex castings, constructing metal frames and photo transfer.

By using objects that were destined for landfill, this speaks of the endless churn of material production, consumption and depletion that characterises this current era. Shilling also incorporates elements of personal memory, contrasting sentimentality with objects that carry no emotional value. She finds it interesting that people think she has bought or even made some of her found material, highlighting the power of transformation through these fabricated processes. The found objects hold the same weight within the sculptures as their crafted counterparts, blurring the line between found and fabricated. Shilling thinks that today’s readymades are often about reclaiming and reusing, not just recontextualising objects. In a world facing a climate crisis and resource scarcity, using waste materials can be seen as a form of resistance or healing.

@lshilling_