Cathy Wilkes @ The Encyclopedic Palace, Venice Biennale

Two strips of aged floral fabric sway slightly, caught in the movement of the many gallery visitors pulsing through the central pavilion of the Giardini. Like the clothes drying on washing lines held between houses in the Venetian streets, this fabric suggests a private world, a subtle boundary. Cathy Wilkes has cleverly created a scene into which the viewer enters.

Four small figures in ragged clothes stand around a squatting male form, paused in a moment of incredible intimacy. Despite the lack of features and rough quality of the mannequins chosen by Wilkes, the positions of these young characters projects a strong emotive vulnerability, a personal realness. Glance then to the man, hunched over an empty wine bottle, and to the floor that is covered in a collection of objects. Broken fragments of pottery and glass mirror the beer jugs and wine bottles strewn over the floor, ancient relics of a history full of such entities. This collection, in parts elevated from the floor by faded white cloth, offers a sharp contrast to the innocent, childlike drawings of apples and comics. It exaggerates a feeling of uncomfortable fragility that, as a viewer, we can only witness and move on, despite a protective urge to intervene. Yet there is hope. Carved into a wooden tray in the same childlike script is the phrase ‘at last,’ subtly repeated on a section of cloth on the cold grey floor.

Entering this unnervingly personal installation feels intrusive, almost voyeuristic, but is, nevertheless, a totally absorbing experience. Cathy Wilkes has formed a snapshot of life that leads you to ponder the narrative behind such a creation, whilst inviting you to imply your own. [Cathy O'Brien]