The Wunderkammer, or Wonder Chamber, is related to and at times synonymous with the Kunstkammer (art chamber) and the Cabinet of Curiosity. The idea of the Wonder Chamber encapsulates the interdisciplinary nature of my practice, which plays with: natural history, history and philosophies of medical science, art history, museology, theatrical spectacle, optical science and lens-based practice (the notion of the chamber, or camera, to quote the Latin origins, being inscribed in photography through the camera obscura, or ‘darkened room’). In particular I am concerned with notions of layering and concealing, and with revealing dichotomous states through optical science and illusion. Wonder Chamber acts as an imaginary museum (the successor to the Wunderkammer) bringing together many of the key works I have been developing over the past few years. Some are tangible and ready to be exhibited, while others are still developmental – site-specific concepts unable to be realised until the appropriate space is available. Adopting the form of an imagined floor plan, which interlinks the individual exhibits in much the same way as the museum space, Wonder Chamber is analogous to a blueprint: envisioned but yet to be realised, open to dialogue, development and collaboration.
Several of the artworks developed for Wonder Chamber were made with the support of The Arts Council of Wales Major Creative Wales Awards.
