Joi Murugavell
The Upside Down Bum

I’ve often sought clarity in ferocious cycles. When my mum died 6 months ago it sparked one such cycle. This particular loss sparked a vivid game of hide and seek. The question of ‘who am I’ or rather ‘who am I being’ came up in greater frequency and intensity, as thoughts of my childhood floated by mingling with what I’ve grown to think of as ‘me today’.

The work you see here was made with this question in mind, along with all other related questions like how can I see with more clarity? who am
I pretending to be? why do I dislike Valentine’s Day? I don’t have the words for the outcome of these thoughts but I frequently find them in the pictures I make. And the short sentences we call artwork titles.

In showing this body of work I hope to learn from observers who may have the words for the pictures I made. Exhibitions have come to feel like an AA meeting where I (often) also acquire 1 or 2 penpals. People who for some reason keep in touch with me via email or Instagram, and some even visit in person. I have come to see this as the reason to have exhibitions. A workshop where someone who mainly thinks and feels in pictures meets people who can think and feel with words. The result is often better clarity, for both parties.

As for the upside-down bum, it’s what I’ve always referred to Valentine’s Day as. A comical ‘public holiday for the heart’ to remind us that we have one. As if matters of the heart can ever be about 1 day, or 1 hour or even 1 minute. We are one big throbbing heart, with multiple limbs of hopes and desires, a good dose of excrement, and a connection to something a lot larger than ourselves.