Desperation Is A State of Mine

2007

The theme for the Hoxton Square Gallery in December 2007 was “Do We Look Desperate?”

I like to think that I don’t, but over the previous months I had been restarting my life in another country and had been dealing with all the struggle and lack that that kind of thing involves. The lack of light in London in December is quite amazing – sometimes it gets dark as early as 3.30pm – and I thought about a public installation that involved light for this night time event.

I made 20 plastic bags containing a piece of paper on which was stamped DESPERATION IS A STATE OF MINE, lit each one with a battery-powered LED, and tied them to the trees.

Then some kids came in and stole about 15 of them, so I floated the last five in the fountain in the middle of the square, which ended up being quite nice.