Sarah Casey: Drawing the Delicate
7th December - 14th December 2012

Drawing the Delicate is a solo exhibition of artworks by Sarah Casey. This is outcome of a research project which identifies in drawing shared practices with costume conservation, archaeology and medicine in their handling of fugitive material. The works exhibited test new forms of drawing which explore the visual, poetic and conceptual understandings of delicacy.

Over the past three years Casey has been making visits to the dress collections at Kensington Palace, working with their curators to observe how intimate and personal items of underwear are stored, handled and viewed. In the emergent works, the drawn mark manifests some of the curatorial concerns around these objects, specifically the potential for care or destruction latent in light and the human touch. Some of the drawings are made with the pressure of touch alone, and like the collections’ objects, are sensitive to their environmental conditions. If they get too hot, or are exposed to too much sunlight, they will simply fade away.