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TOIL

The body of work presented in three solo exhibitions; ‘TOIL’ (2012) Project 4 Gallery, Washington DC, USA; ‘Sisyphus’ (2013) Huddersfield Art Gallery; and ‘Moments of Repetition’ (2010) The Nunnery Gallery, London, was specifically produced to research repetition in the process of art production, raising questions about the effects repetitive processes can have on the subject and object of art. Each work utilised repetitive labour to realise its form or event, referencing the absurdist philosophies of Albert Camus and Friedrich Nietzsche. Beyond the aesthetic framework of 1960s minimalism, the utilitarian objects highlight repetition as an everyday, human experience. The work offered a reflective foundation for the development of a substantial corpus of written work that also received an international audience, including two conference papers; ‘The Process of Repetition: Transgressing the Boundaries of Fine Art, Craft and Design’ (2010) for ‘The 2nd International Forum of Design as a Process,’University of Averio, Portugal, and ‘The Process of Repetition - Digital Representations of Repetitive Labour Through Time’ (2010) at SoftBorders New Media Art Conference UNESP – The University Estadual Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil subsequently published in the conference proceedings edited by Martha Gabriel and Milton Sogabe. An illustrated essay ‘The Search for Repetition’ (2011) was commissioned for the book ‘100 Things Not Worth Repeating: On Repetition’ edited by Marianne Holm Hansen (Lemon Melon), the 14 contributors in the book included Roni Horn, Joan Jonas and Jonathan Rée. The sculpture ‘Brass Cube’ was also developed for a commission, ‘Brass Desk,’ from Gensler architects for Clifford Chance Head Office, Washington DC. The exhibitions were internationally reviewed, most notably by critic, Michael O'Sullivan, ‘Art that only looks robotic’ Washington Post (September 21, 2012) and R. Luzar, 'Jill Townsley: Moments of Repetition' in ‘Artfractures Quarterly Journal: Art Theory, Critique and Aesthetic Ideology’, issue 4 (Summer 2010).