Garlands
03 June - 05 July 2003
35 Heddon Street, London W1
TJ Wilcox's twelve new silent films, collectively subtitled Garlands, use a familiar combination of found footage, collaged animation and the artist's own film to create mini-narratives. Strawberry is a film of a fetishized strawberry plant which came to represent innocence and growth post 9/11; Ortino tells the story of the pet dog of the Romanoff Princesses who was massacred alongside his owners; Around the World in 80 Seconds is a tribute to the romance of travel. Other films take as their subjects the artist’s beloved stepmother, Ann; melting polar ice caps; bee-keeping; Humpty Dumpty; Ara Tripp, a transsexual from Wilcox’s home town; sunsets; tree planting and the annunciation of Christ. Linking the Garlands is their melancholic rumination on innocence, romance and courage.