In this installation, two central metal frames simulate windows that reflect on the possible correlation between acts of looking and caretaking. Looking at something is the precursor to looking after something as care requires attention. Dressing a Window draws on the chapter "Time Passes" in Virginia Woolf's novel To The Lighthouse, referenced in the title of this exhibition. In "Time Passes," Woolf continues to look closely at the characters' holiday house even after it has fallen into disarray, describing the neglected items scattered around empty rooms and routines of the housekeepers looking after the house. Similarly, materials repurposed from Burt's older works are draped, tied and suspended around the frames and carefully rewoven into this new presentation.
"Collecting and repurposing old paraphernalia mirrors a form of care and attention to what was previously neglected", says artist Stephanie Jane Burt. In a blog feature, she shares how her work for SAM’s Time Passes exhibition, Dressing a Window, responds to the ways we can look after and care for the people and things around us during these challenging times. Click to read Art Must Go On ft.Stephanie Jane Burt.