Bethan Huws
Untitled, 2002
Word vitrine, aluminium, glass, rubber and plastic letters
100 x 75 x 4.5 cm
It reads:
And I sleep.
An impulse towards destruction manifests.
Contrary to construction.
Desperation. Isolation. Desolation.
Blocked. Where nothing new for the moment
Is constructed.
Of breaking every perceivable object of vision.
Of utter incomprehension.
A complete incapacity to think.
And I sleep in the knowledge that nothing
will have changed when I wake.
And when I wake a great silence answers.
Known for deconstructing and playing with the structure of language in her work, Huws first created a Word Vitrine using standard office display boards in 1999, following an interest in Marcel Duchamp’s ready-mades.
Perhaps what Huws is describing above could also be called ‘writer’s block’ — a great slumber or hibernation from creative processes. In many ways the last year has had echoes of this feeling, with galleries, museums, theatres and gig venues being shut for long periods and a firm ‘stay home’ order in place. Yet, just like Huws’ vitrine and the concrete poem it houses, beautiful things can be created despite or even because of blocks to creativity.