Backwash

In water purification ‘Backwash’ refers to the process of reversing the flow to clear out and purify air and water. As a concept here it could also apply to the process of becoming clear or conscious about thinking; how we absorb ideas and what it means to be taught through association, and to know through osmosis. This work considers what is taught and unconsciously absorbed then reenacted in domestic environments.

If we gaze at any family tableau and look hard enough, what would we see? A reflection of societal and family beliefs and the dynamics at play based on histories and geography and biographical events? It is in noticing and questioning these assertions and stories that we learn to think for ourselves.

Backwash also refers to the sharing of drinks and the inevitable back flow that occurs in the communal cup. The sloshing together and combining of different fluids, saliva, bacteria, DNA. It compares to the multigenerational sharing of ideas, values and rules. The good, the bad, the personal and the collective. What was helpful for one generation is not necessarily helpful for the next, but all gets included and shared…transmitted and transmuted.

The paintings in this series are ( among other things) a personal look back, a remembering of watching, listening, learning…. cleaning, washing and hanging the clothes out to dry.

They are part of my backwashing process.

Credit: Sam Burnet. E.C Alumni Assoc.