the waiting

Statistics show that on average for every gambling "casualty", 9-12 people are affected by the unraveling consequences. (This relates to the number of figures in the installation.) The site, Light Square, Adelaide, has proximity to Hindley Street - a confluence of gambling dens, pokies, nightclubs and overt gambling advertising billboards.

Gambling is also in some cases an implication of suicide. Our figures also ‘hang’. This can be interpreted in different ways. Have they hung themselves in despair? Are they ghostly figures, but the memory of the individuals who used to wear these clothes?

The intention was to create a work which is concerned with the destruction of individuals, families and their surroundings as a consequence to gambling addiction.

In essence, gambling is a solitary activity. The figures are separate, creating a sense of loss and disengagement, an unraveling of connections and relationships. The clothes exist without bodies. The people are absent yet tangible - there, but not there.

Plaster was used for its ghostly yet permanent nature. It is this monumental aspect that seeks to preserve the essence of life within the work.