Carly Greene: Trappings

TRAPPINGS was inspired by some popcorn I picked up off the floor of the Empress Hotel bar a couple of years ago. Offered as a complimentary table snack alongside pricey glasses of wine or signature cocktails, the light, oddly shaped kernels—seasoned with spices and activated charcoal—inevitably slip through fingers and fall to the floor, ignored by patrons, swept up by staff. The popcorn brought to mind two things: my first job sweeping floors at my hometown movie theatre, and asàrotos òikos floor mosaics. Translated as “unswept room,” these trompe-l’oeil motifs of scraps and feast debris appeared in the dining spaces of wealthy Greek and Roman villas. They symbolized abundance, wealth, and the decadence of empire—while preserving what is, essentially, a mess. Seeing the debris scattered on the floor of the Empress—an institution steeped in colonial history and upper-class exclusivity, the connection seemed ripe. This installation centres on two primary materials: popcorn and rosé wine. Both are consumed more for pleasure rather than sustenance, and both can be read as either high or low brow depending on the context—boutique or bulk, bottled or boxed, at the Empress Hotel or the Wetaskiwin Cinema. TRAPPINGS indulges in our attraction to shiny things as a way to reckon with the inherent messiness that underlies materiality. In making this ... read more...