'I lost my balance yesterday, my mind is really beginning to slip' (overheard conversaton, wharf 2, circular Quay, Sydney, 06.07.1991) SCULPTURAL SITUATIONS BY GAIL HASTINGS ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES 29 MARCH – 9 MAY 2007

The full force of a gusty winters day could be felt underfoot as the wharf, upon which a straddle of us strangers awaited the next ferry, heaved — almightily — and ever so restrainedly. When one blustering wind sent us all scuttling for something sturdy to hang on to, I overheard someone say to another, ‘I lost my balance yesterday, my mind is really beginning to slip’. This struck me almost as forcedly as the wind. It spoke of a sad disconnectedness between the speaker and the space outside the speaker; an alienation easy to fall hostage to by loosing sight of one’s inseparableness to this space. No wonder, I thought, it has been such a struggle these years to make actual space perceivable in a work of contemporary art. Though this need not mean I cannot at least try to create a space in which this might be seen; one in which we might feel, for a moment, a little less alone.

Gail Hastings, January 2007