Letting Out The Slack

​LETTING OUT THE SLACK

Stick Figure + Sons
Leila Galloway & Isaak Johnson
18th April -  4th May 2025

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Materials: Bitumen corrugated roof sheeting, protection boards, plastic interlocking floor tiles, polyethylene sheeting, tarpaulin, birch poles, black acrylic paint, torch, hanging lightbulbs x 2, mustard powder, agave stem, soil, plastic bags, cleats, waxed cotton thread, projectors x 2, speakers x 4.

 

A sensory meditation on control, belief and surrender.

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(Sound)

Drawing on an old belief—that a person afflicted with jaundice could be cured by gazing at a Golden Oriole, a bird once thought to absorb illness — Yellow tones and echoes of the bird filter through the rooms.

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(Vision)

A headless figure controls a mirrored kite, connected only by needle thin strings. As the wind eases the flyer loses attention. The kite falls losing hold of the energy-slack takes form. A sudden gust rips the figure back into the room, attention on their action is reinstated, reminding the flyer of their task.

Letting Out the Slack is a multi-sensory installation by Leila Galloway and Isaak Johnson at Stick Figure + Sons, Redruth, Cornwall. Across two adjoining rooms, industrial and organic materials intermingle, both artists create a space where structures begin to loosen, sway and dissolve.
Bitumen-coated panels, sagging plastic bags and tough plastic sheeting cover the walls and ceilings. Grid flooring and heavy duty rubber tarpaulin coats the floor. Reversed bird calls, low-frequency hums, and earthy scents of soil, mustard and tar saturate the air. Complimenting and clashing mediums are both present. Creating an uncanny environment. The two films playing within the install are another influence to this contradictory nature. At their core is the slapstick tragedy that healing may not come through clarity or control but through surrender.
 

 

Photos @anthony_prothero