Self-consciousness

"This work is made up of five parts. They are a) a Cibachrome from a black-and-white photograph of an ornate mirror into which a colour image of the horsehead nebula has been dropped; b) a blue acrylic painting on paper by Toronto artist Andy Patton framed beneath glass; c) a Cibachrome of myself mirrored in a reflective wall surface embedded with mica chips; and d) two texts mounted under blue Plexiglas, taken from the book The Dirty Duck by mystery writer Martha Grimes." Gurney appropriates existing images and texts as a way of being attentive to how meaning is constructed in daily life. This work reflects upon identification through its devices of mirroring, framing and distance. Within this fluid collection of images, which she lists above, she includes an image of herself -- a reflection of a reflection that provides a fleeting moment of recognition.