Sara Radstone describes her work as ‘a lifetime obsession with things that are overlooked or discarded’. Thoughts of archived objects and the traces or fragments of long redundant artefacts all haunt her work; they represent, as she puts it, the ‘frozen remains of what might have been.’

Her most recent sculptures on the theme of distant and fragile memory make reference to both past works and more universal themes. Some aspects of her investigation include the re-envisioning of her personal visual language. She speaks of ‘Re-visiting a sense of volume and seeing it differently’, to overturn the original idea to the degree of ‘going to the absolute opposite’. Thus formerly enclosed shapes are now ripped open, while a delicate, skeletal wall-mounted piece, composed of frail fragments, makes poignant reference to an earlier sculpture, sadly lost alongside numerous other contemporary British artworks in the MoMart warehouse fire of 2004.

Traces of thoughts and the notion of ideas gradually taking shape and accumulating over time are also represented in a series of folder or book-like forms. These thin and precarious objects appear dry and brittle, torn, scratched and punctured, while bearing the sheen of use. Radstone found herself returning to work on the books almost as a daily ritual; as such they became the focus of her interest in ‘building up a sort of diary of marks’, serving as a record of ‘the struggle to express things on their pages’.

Sara Radstone (b.1955) studied at Herefordshire College of Art (1975-76) and Camberwell School of Art & Design, London (1976-79). She has exhibited internationally and her work can be found in numerous public collections including the Los Angeles County Museum, USA; Shigaraki Cultural Park, Japan; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Text by Tessa Peters