Ricki Dywer & Katy Hawkins San Francisco. USA and UK
It’ll all be ok! 2020.
Doublethink is the ability to hold two completely contradictory beliefs at the same time and to believe they are both true. A belief in your freedom, whilst knowing the semblance of that which you possess is constrained in ways beyond those you know of A belief in hope, when you know it to be a false belief, a wish thrown to the gods, whilst you sail on blind An idea that “it will all be ok”, when you know that it has not and will not be ok for many, for a long time now. The Notice Board believes showing this Poem and Flag is important.
The two works engage with notions of Doublethink: the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in distinct social contexts. Doublethink was a word invented by G. Orwell, for his book 1984. ‘Doublethink’ used here challenges us to see and check the privilege under of some of our noses – be that in relation to race, capitalism, geo-political links, gender and so on. It asks us to reflect on how we carry on regardless accepting age old or seemingly invisible behaviours. Reminding us how we all can be guilty sometimes of lies/doublespeak and the denial this enables. Katy and Ricki argue we must be a constantly questioned; with art being the only route for emotional freedom from our corruption, leading to abstract thought, openings, and connections.
The Notice Board coalesces around the ideas inherent in this too. It stands firmly behind the idea that A lie you accept becomes a lie you forget, suggesting that we must be on our guard to see when truth is being marginalised. It knows that many before these 2 artists have also suggested that once we stop looking for truth and once we agree, if only within our own hearts, to live within a lie because it is more comforting than the truth then we open ourselves up to totalitarianism.
www.ricki.website
www.katyghawkins.com