HOLD AND RELEASE

An exploration of causality and trauma therapy through performance, kinetic energy and handmade sculptural elements.

 

Melissa Hermans, Hold and Release I, 2022, plaster, beeswax, string, ink, found objects.

 

 

 

Melissa Hermans, Hold and Release I, 2022, plaster, beeswax, string, ink, found objects.

 

This work embodies the instance of trauma tethered to an individual until met with the tools to release anguish in the mind, spirit and body. Hold and Release unravels a personal experience of growing up with a parent with a myriad of mental illnesses. This work honours the place of art in my life, not just as a form of expression but a way of healing.

 

Melissa Hermans, Hold and Release I, 2022, plaster, beeswax, string, ink, found objects.

 

Each element of this work holds meaning. The rock is personified, grounded and unique in its shape. Encapsulating time and connection, a strand of string anchors the rock to a vessel—fragile, planetary and filled with viscous black ink representing trauma individuals may carry through life. The vessel relies on the string’s connection to the rock in order to stay present and intact. Only once the instruments of the candle and its lighter are used can the connection be severed and the rock may stand free.

 

Melissa Hermans, Hold and Release I, 2022, plaster, beeswax, string, ink, found objects.

 

Through my practice I utilise bronze casting, sculpture and performative art to conceptualise life experience.

 

Melissa Hermans, Hold and Release II [work-in-progress], 2022. Image credit: Robbie Rowlands.

 

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Melissa Hermans