I have tried to take in so much art during my short time here at Documenta. Some of it has been more impressionable than others. An artist that really stood out for me was Bonita Ely, who is an Australian artist who displayed a series of sculptural works in the Palais Belluve. The series was called Interior Decoration: Memento Mori (remember you must die) from (2013-2017)  and commented on the intergenerational effect on families of Post-traumatic Stress disorder, passed on to children of veterans. It was comprised of four individual pieces, Sewing Machine Gun (2013), Watchtower (2013), Trench (2013), and Tour Of Duty II (2017). The installation is informed by the artist’s memories of childhood trauma and an adult’s reflections upon her father’s behavior due to his Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. The pieces that I found most interesting were Sewing Machine Gun and Watchtower because both were made from things she grew up with in her parent’s home. Sewing Machine Gun was constructed using her mother’s singer sewing machine and bobby pins. Watchtower is made from her parent’s bedframe and mattress. Both these pieces appear playful, yet sinister. For me they represent well a child’s imagination. They reminded me of when I used to make forts out of blankets, pillows and furniture in my home and make up a new world around me. They are almost fantastical. I can imagine a little boy or girl being enthralled by these objects as perfect manifestations of how they might imagine these common household items during their imaginative play. And yet, young children normally are not able to conjure up these objects in such accurate detail, with the Machine Gun conforming well to the shape of its actual counterpart. It is unsettling to imagine a young child with such vivid knowledge of these things. This is heightened by the fact that these sculptures were made from particular objects the artist was familiar with when growing up. This connection to the past helps the objects create a sense of memory. You are able to sense that they are objects that hark to a particular time. There is also the poignant emphasis on making war domestic by bringing these objects that are associated with war into the home through their construction out of household objects as well as the site specificity at the Palais Belluve, with its history as a former home. They also highlight the effect that PTSD can have on families by having these things that are from war now a part of the home.

This series reminds me of the Mongolian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and the work I’m bird (2016) were the artist Chimeddorj  Shagdarjav had made a series of sixty bronze cranes out of the silhouette of a gun. Cranes are migratory and  only present in Mongolia during the summer. They are also known for their resourcefulness, changing their diet to what is available, and for being a sub group of reptiles, and the last living example of dinosaurs. The artist uses this imagery to comment on Mongolian’s trend to search for work in neighboring countries such as Korea. He questions to what extent the restless quest for new worlds destroys old ones.

The use of military imagery out of it’s usual context is an immediate connectionbetween the two. Furthermore, they are both using imagery that is familiar and particular to the places the artists are commenting on. The Crane being particular to Mongolia and the furniture and sewing machine being particular to Ely’s childhood home. In this way they both share a level of connection to a place. They also are both harking to memory or a past, with I’m Bird reflecting on the changes of lifestyle going on in Mongolia and Ely’s series on her childhood experiences. Finally they both hold a sense of loss. The changes going on in Mongolia will mean the loss of the way of life up to this point. This being emphasized by the guns the birds resemble. In Ely’s series, the loss is illuminated by the pieces forcing us to think of the distressed minds of the individuals who suffer from PTSD.

Ely’s level of personal connection to the pieces and materials they are constructed from help express the powerfulness of her childhood experiences and emphasis how impressionable they were. This is also what gives the work a level of intimacy, I felt as though I was walking through remnants from her memory as I moved through the series and this felt almost intrusive. I imagine that these things may be difficult for her to think about. I think that this work highlights the power that can come from artist’s using their art as a medium of self- expression while also asking us to think about the issue at hand, in this case PTSD.