Yvonne Shafir’s Material Attachments

We assume you already know Yvonne Shafir.
If you don’t, well, you’re about to finally start living.

For reasons we’re still trying to understand, Yvonne allowed a group of under-caffeinated Melbourne Art Fair staff into her home (we promised to bring Babka—Andy forgot, Jodie panic-bought one arriving an hour late, and nobody made eye contact until it arrived).

What we found was a pink-hued labyrinth: part archive, part shrine, part psychological obstacle course. Art, objects, and what Yvonne lovingly refers to as “symbolic junk” filled the space. Everything meant something. Nothing was neutral. Even a stuffed deer head attached to the wall (discovered at an op shop) served part of her welcome ritual, singing a jaunty Christmas tune from its battery powered speakers. Down the hall several things blinked and swayed back and forth.

Yvonne has a soft spot for the pink, the fluffy, and the ambiguously alive. Her collection includes works by Hiromi Tango (Sullivan+Strumpf), Kathy Temin (Anna Schwartz Gallery), Cybele Cox (Ames Yavuz), her own creations, and a number of pieces that may once have been lamps or may, in time, evolve into lamps. Each object radiates story, memory, or mild psychic interference.

This is Material Attachments: a series in which we visit collectors not for what they’ve bought, but for what they’ve refused to let go of.