Featured Artist: Dany Pen (Bermuda Biennial 2014: A View From the Edge)

Dany Pen, Grooming Goods, New Media, 2013

The theme “A View from the Edge” for me comments on the edge as a gateway for goods (such as clothing, products and materials) coming into Bermuda. This artwork uses a combination of digital media, photography, and organic materials.

Grooming Goods is a response on the relationship that we have with the import of goods that crosses that borderline – the “edge”. Bermuda, as a small Island, is limited to how much materials it can own and consume. When goods and commodities enter the Island, they become so highly prized and valued that we groom them to an obscene obsession. We clean, store, display and wear these goods. They become vessels embodying who and what we are; they become part of our identity. 

We carry out the illusion that these materials are part of us. If they are stained, broken or torn, we will mourn the loss. We become naked without them. So, eagerly and impatiently, we will wait at the “edge” for what the next consumer good coming onto the Island will be.

For more information, please visit: www.bermudanationalgallery.com