The spiral configuration forms both passage and chamber. Its exterior shell remains shiny and reflective while the entire inside surface has been carefully hand sanded, subtly altering the see-through material with a worked up, drawing-like quality. Before entering this installation, the viewer can already get a glimpse at the tied monofilament webbing that occupies its core.

A handful of mylar constructions of houses sit precariously within this dense netting. A video projection of the shadow of a young woman, making and arranging the constructions, is projected through the installation. To further complicate the negotiation within Revel, the video image intermingles with the real cast shadows from the actual installation. As the viewer navigates the installation, air current is stirred, causing the mylar to sway.

As a consequence, the projection of the video on the shiny surface reflects bands of flickering light onto a paper curtain that flanks the inner spiral. Revel’s ghost like aura traverses effortlessly among real, memory and dream-like imaginary spaces. It has a physical presence that is almost not quite there; further adding to the psychological and emotional impact of a haunting, of how the past always manages to impinge on and speak through the present and future.

Owens Art Gallery, Sackville, NB