This is not the first time I have submerged fired porcelain paintings resembling fossilised photographs in water. Nor will it be the last. In 2016 for my installation Loopdivers, I submerged over 30 pieces in six large mason’s black buckets. Water dripped from the ceiling to intermittently break the surface, obscuring the submerged porcelains that seem suspended in minaiture abysses. For Susak Sentinels, I released 12 porcelains into the depths of the adriatic sea around the island of Susak as part of the Suask Expo 2018. They’re still there somewhere.
For Carmen’s Time, I decided upon a bath as a container for water and a frame for the 16 porcelain paintings – each one interpeted from a series of photographs taken by Carmen during her bathtime rituals over a period of several weeks. Three quarters of our brains, roughly 80%, are made up of water which suggests our memories swim and develop in water.
As always, I invited my friend James S.Taylor to compose an audio piece for this installation. He structured his composition around sound files provided by Carmen who had made recordings with her telephone from within her bathroom – a jingling of bracelets, electric razors, kids talking downstairs, birds singing in the garden and so on. In using several sound sources, including a series of small speakers attached to the ceiling and bass speakers hidden under sofas and in adjacent rooms, James managed to make the sounds appear unexpectedly and randomly for six weeks. This enhanced the experience for viewers who found themselves immersed into a moment rather than simply standing back and witnessing it.
You can hear extracts of James’s piece in the short film made about the show by Vincent Jelinek

Image 1 – looking down into Carmen’s Time bath
Image 2 – looking down into Carmen’s Time bath
Image 3 – Main room with Carmen’s Time bath installation in centre
Image 4 – Carmen’s Time bath installation, Patinsedlejovice flanked by two Limboid paintings
Image 5 – Phossil 427 CT 01 / Handpainted with oxides on fired porcelain
Image 6 – Phossil 435 CT 03 / Handpainted with oxides on fired porcelain
Image 7 – Phossil 437 CT 05 / Handpainted with oxides on fired porcelain
Image 8 – Phossil 438 CT 06 / Handpainted with oxides on fired porcelain
Image 9 – Phossil 439 CT 07 / Handpainted with oxides on fired porcelain
Image 10 – Phossil 441 CT 09 / Handpainted with oxides on fired porcelain
Image 11 – Phossil 445 CT 13 / Handpainted with oxides on fired porcelain
Image 12 – Phossil 447 CT 15 / Handpainted with oxides on fired porcelain
Image 13 – Main poster based on my photo of a restaurant ceiling in portugal
Image 14 – Restaurant in Portugal where I photographed the ceiling for the main poster