SHADOW SELF

Shame Space by Martine SymsPrimary InformationNovember 2020Selected by Claire de Rouen

Referencing the design of pocket Bibles, Martine Syms’ Shame Space collects journal writings and images that speak to processes of making and unmaking the self, amid the fluidity and strangeness of contemporary life. Divorcing the textual element, which forms the first half of the book, from her visuals – a selection of grainy video stills from the 2020 video project Ugly Plymouths – Syms shows herself at home with these distinct modes of making and of witnessing that normally overlap in her acclaimed video works. Through Syms’ pages, we enter a reflective, meditative space, whose temporality is akin to that of a long, solitary drive.
– Lilly Markaki