Minor truths I, III, IV

Incorporating sculpture, glass, installation and text, Spence Messih’s practice is attuned to the nuances of language, materiality, pressure and transformation. Their subtle yet complex works are informed by personal experience and often use abstraction as a means to claim presence and self-recognition. Since 2017 Messih has explored glass, a material that can absorb or refract light and change over time. The artist was drawn to these material qualities, and the role of glass in public architecture, where stained glass was historically used to depict narratives, share ‘truths’, and offer hope. From their early leadlight pieces, Messih has since experimented with other glass-making techniques that they consider less rigid and more intuitive.

Messih’s installation Minor truths comprises five large kiln-formed glass works supported by jarrah armatures. The angular timber framing, made by Celeste Stein, juxtaposes the undulating lines and rippling curvatures of the glass to striking effect. Each panel contains multiple layers of fused glass that form abstract shapes, which could read in relation to nature, architecture, or the body. Their different colours bleed together or hover in tension around seams of trapped air. Messih worked with artist Kirstie Rea at Canberra Glassworks to develop these pieces, embracing chance and material idiosyncrasy throughout the making process. When placed in relation to one another and activated by light, the resulting works speak to ideas of absorption, resonance, refusal, and acceptance.

The series responds to 'Poems of truth' (1957), a text by British trans man Michael Dillon (1915–62). In Dillon’s lifetime he was variously a mechanic, World War II fire watcher, naval surgeon, aristocrat and monk, and Messih, who regularly works with trans archives, was drawn to Dillon’s optimistic search for mastery and actualisation. This plays out across 'Minor truths' through a deeply collaborative approach that invites multiple perspectives, connections and entry points. Messih worked with artist Archie Barry to develop audio piece 'Open doubts', featuring the reverberant sounds of conch shells, and commissioned a text by Hil Malatino titled 'Keep the line / bleed this'. These components complement the sculptures by complicating ostensibly fixed notions of time and truth, instead cultivating a space for curiosity, experimentation, and impermanence.

jarrah armatures: Celeste Stein
dual channel audio: 'Open doubts' by Archie Barry and Spence Messih
text: 'Keep the line / bleed this' by Hil Malatino