— Close But Not Too Close

2020 Space by The Fourth Cape Town

Occasionally, it stops you breathing. Mostly, it keeps you company – in the way the radio keeps you company while driving. In some cafés, the chatter and movement of people around you makes you feel at ease. It’s mostly like this. When it isn’t, it’s like something quickly inflating in a space too small for it’s fullest expression. It pins you to the wall.

You noticed it for the first time after your visit to the great hole. You tagged along with a friend who wanted to trace the edge of the hole. You helped him with this, holding his pencils and bringing him coffee while he worked his way around. You spent more time anticipating his needs and reviewing his drawings, than considering the hole. So you were surprised to find that something in or about the hole remained so palpably with you when you returned home. It might have been with you before you visited the hole, latent. Possibly, its onset merely coincided with the visit, and the two aren’t otherwise connected. When you mention it to your friend, he says he’s suffered from anxiety since he was a child. It’s not like that. You’d miss it if it left you.

— Exhibition text by Chloë Reid December 2021