Memento Collective: Death, Dreams & Desire
TOP: What we're left with - bubble wrap (2020)
BOTTOM: How I want to be seen (2022)
Stu's contribution to the front room of the exhibition is a collection of photos that incorporate self-portraiture, and still life that reflects his inner thoughts, demonstrating a strong sense of self, or 'ego' in Freudian terms.
LEFT: Family Resemblance triptych (Uncle's beard, Grandfather's hair, Brother's eyes) (2020)
Part of an ongoing series of self-portraits capturing family resemblance, combined into one vertical triptych for this exhibition. Looking at this from both a Freudian and Queer angle, Stu has focused on resemblances to male family members who were the source of his early childhood perceptions of masculinity.
RIGHT: Dating app - selfie album (2022)
A new series of self-portraits in the context of contemporary dating apps - the ongoing need for showing outward-facing sexuality and appeal regardless of age, and the scope for making ongoing comparisons with others.
LEFT: Life/Death/Lust (2022)
RIGHT: Life/Death/Nightlife (2022)
These works focus on Freud's ideas around life drive and death drive, with each work containing both positive and negative aspects of the key subject within them. The works are semi-autobiographical, and contain aspects of lust and nightlife that have either life-enriching, or destructive for Stu.
Somewhere between sleep and death (2022)
This work draws parallels between the states of sleep and death. Stu took a cast of his own face to create a life mask. This personal work came about because of Stu's recent frequent waking panic attacks, and jolting back to life, almost like being resuscitated from sleep and undergoing a re-birth every day.
Selfie spot with red (2022)
Viewers are encouraged to take a selfie with this scenery as the backdrop and post this to social media.
All of the object presented have been purchased from charity shops and are undergoing a number of different states of ownership and colour. In Freudian terms, the objects represent some form of desire towards the object or the needs it satisfies, or the association of that object to a person.
TOP: Size Obsessed (2021)
BOTTOM: Shaved Chest for ECG (2020)
These works are reimagined for this exhibition, changing the intent of the work. The object of comparison or desire has been obscured - the sex toy in size obsessed, and the shaved chest in 'Shaved Chest for ECG'.
Life/Death/Body (2022)
The third in the Life/Death trilogy focuses on the positive and negative behaviours towards the body. Unhealthy food and takeaways is placed alongside representations of the ongoing urge and desire to exercise and eat healthily. Again, this work is semi-autobiographical.