Susie MacMurray: Shell installation, Pallant House, Chichester, 2006-07 (commissioned catalogue essay)

Abstract

Susie MacMurray’s Shell installation manifests in Pallant House, Chichester, like some pulsing exotica, a heavily-textured wall-paper, darkly decorative, heavily luxurious, broodingly present, with more than a hint of the uncanny or the gothic. A remarkable undertaking by an artist of significance, this work’s life-span was just one year, and then it disappeared, leaving no physical trace, but undoubtedly contributing is a much less tangible way to an already rich layering of narrative within this special space... This commissioned catalogue essay was published by Pallant House / Arts Council England to accompany the exhibition.