The Horses Stayed Behind
Cat Auburn, Artist
This is one of the
installations
in our collection.
It was made in
Whanganui, Whanganui Region, New Zealand
in 2015.
See full details
Object Detail
About the Work
“I
enjoyed
seeing
this
work
on
display
in
the
Gallery
a
few
years
ago.
I
was
amazed
by
the
skill
involved
in
making
the
horsehair
ornaments.
They
look
similar
to
Victorian
mourning
jewellery
featuring
human
hair
that
we
have
in
the
Museum
collection.
The
story
of
the
horses
is
a
moving
one.”
– Airini Beautrais, teacher and writer, for the Dec 2020 instalment of the My Choice exhibition series.
The Horses Stayed Behind exhibition intro panel 2015
Ten thousand horses left New Zealand for the front lines in World War One, only four returned. It was this fact that occupied Cat Auburn during her time in Whanganui as Tylee Cottage artist-in-residence from November 2014 to February 2015. For The Horses Stayed Behind Auburn asked horse owners from across the country to donate a small clipping of full length hair from their horse or pony’s tail which she then made into rosettes, flowers made in the style of Victorian hair wreaths .
Rather than creating a figurative motif or picture with the five hundred resulting rosettes Auburn has instead chosen to present them using a formalist aesthetic. Like a heartbeat stretched across five linen canvases the horizontal arrangement, devoid of narrative, allows each unique flower to hold onto its individuality while maintaining a role within the larger group. Each horse and rider is identifiable, in stark contrast to the anonymous fate that awaited thousands of the horses and men who left New Zealand for the war.
Through the rosettes Auburn subverts the customary memorialisation of war, complicating the heroic glory inherent in large scale bronze and marble statuary. These very serious and dour sculptures offer a two dimensional view of history at best: the conqueror standing tall surveying his dominion. This interpretation of history is destabilised by Auburn on multiple levels. The first being the flipping of the story from vertical to horizontal with the five metre long canvas. Traditional war memorials are often towering figures and structures that loom over the viewer. Auburn gives her commemorative work a human scale by placing the horse hair rosettes along a horizontal axis. We can view the work at our own level, seeing its detail and complexity.
Each donation of horse tail came to Auburn with a story. Some with small notes of support, others with cherished photographs and heartrending tales of riders and horses that have passed away. The cathartic nature of this project has gone well beyond the memorialisation of the World War One horses and has become an active way for members of the riding community to pay tribute to their colleagues, horses, and ponies. This type of mourning, a multisensory way of expressing grief, is a central part of The Horses Stayed Behind. Long forgotten events and memories of loved ones can be triggered by a smell, taste, or sound. The final form the rosettes take across the canvases not only resembles a heartbeat but also an isolated audio track. The horses and riders from the past and present join together in this work with a voice that speaks of collective mourning and loss.
Sarah McClintock
Assistant Curator
– Airini Beautrais, teacher and writer, for the Dec 2020 instalment of the My Choice exhibition series.
The Horses Stayed Behind exhibition intro panel 2015
Ten thousand horses left New Zealand for the front lines in World War One, only four returned. It was this fact that occupied Cat Auburn during her time in Whanganui as Tylee Cottage artist-in-residence from November 2014 to February 2015. For The Horses Stayed Behind Auburn asked horse owners from across the country to donate a small clipping of full length hair from their horse or pony’s tail which she then made into rosettes, flowers made in the style of Victorian hair wreaths .
Rather than creating a figurative motif or picture with the five hundred resulting rosettes Auburn has instead chosen to present them using a formalist aesthetic. Like a heartbeat stretched across five linen canvases the horizontal arrangement, devoid of narrative, allows each unique flower to hold onto its individuality while maintaining a role within the larger group. Each horse and rider is identifiable, in stark contrast to the anonymous fate that awaited thousands of the horses and men who left New Zealand for the war.
Through the rosettes Auburn subverts the customary memorialisation of war, complicating the heroic glory inherent in large scale bronze and marble statuary. These very serious and dour sculptures offer a two dimensional view of history at best: the conqueror standing tall surveying his dominion. This interpretation of history is destabilised by Auburn on multiple levels. The first being the flipping of the story from vertical to horizontal with the five metre long canvas. Traditional war memorials are often towering figures and structures that loom over the viewer. Auburn gives her commemorative work a human scale by placing the horse hair rosettes along a horizontal axis. We can view the work at our own level, seeing its detail and complexity.
Each donation of horse tail came to Auburn with a story. Some with small notes of support, others with cherished photographs and heartrending tales of riders and horses that have passed away. The cathartic nature of this project has gone well beyond the memorialisation of the World War One horses and has become an active way for members of the riding community to pay tribute to their colleagues, horses, and ponies. This type of mourning, a multisensory way of expressing grief, is a central part of The Horses Stayed Behind. Long forgotten events and memories of loved ones can be triggered by a smell, taste, or sound. The final form the rosettes take across the canvases not only resembles a heartbeat but also an isolated audio track. The horses and riders from the past and present join together in this work with a voice that speaks of collective mourning and loss.
Sarah McClintock
Assistant Curator
Measurements
Installed 1065 x 5,325 x 100 mm
Each panel 1065 x 1065 x 100 mm
Each panel 1065 x 1065 x 100 mm
Media
horse hair, copper wire and unbleached linen
Description
Five panels with horse hair rosettes attached, less on the outer panels with a concentration of them on the centre panel. The colour of the horse hair ranges from creamy white through browns to black. The rosettes are constructed using copper wire. The five panels are installed in a continuous row.
Identification panels provided when the work is on display identify the horses and their owners and which rosette is from which horse.
Identification panels provided when the work is on display identify the horses and their owners and which rosette is from which horse.
Credit Line
Collection of the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui. Tylee Residency exhange, 2016
Collection Type
Permanent collection
Acquisition Date
23 Nov 2016
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Accession Number:
2016/8/1