Now, Not Yet is a large scale installation of illuminated perspex and hand dyed fabric speaking to the nature of human embodiment, spirituality and hope. Creating a layered, floating womb-space, the orientation of Eden Crain's work invites us to journey through it as we walk up and down the stairs, responding as a counterpoint to the heavy aesthetics and rhythms of the old teacher's college building. The shifting, translucent perspex forms (reminicient of ghosts, speech bubbles, placenta or stomachs), create ever changing reflections and layered lines of vision as we stand in the liminal space of the stairwell.
Inspired by Ernesto Neto's immersive use of scent, Crain draws on Christian tradition and the symbology of rosemary to create a work that invites multisensory, embodied participation. As the smell of fresh rosemary fills the stairwell, the audience is drawn to personnal scent-memories, as well as the image of lamb as atonement, grace and victory. In this way, Crain's work functions as both a prayer and a song, drawing on Makoto Fujimura's ideas of the theology of making to provide an open, meditiative space for reflection and conversation across spiritual difference, uncertainty and religious divides.
Now, Not Yet invites the audience to dwell in moments of uncertainty and liminality, celebrating the glimmers of hope and restoration that ground us and spur us upward.
