Sound Installation – 2015
The Historic Dockyard Chatham, Kent, England.
Formally a vandalized site, St Mary the Virgin, Ceteham, Kent, has been recently undergoing refurbishment to open under another Christian stream, Pentecostalism. ‘BraveStones’ is an uncanny court case that reflects on the changes that this site of worship has been undergoing from the perspective of those regarded as inanimate. Whilst personifying the lifeless bodies, Agius re-opened this case to investigate whether the allegations of Charles Dickens, using the names from the gravestones, was intentional or simply an unconscious act. Hence, by exploring the uncanny dualistic juxtapositions found between the inert architectural features and the symbolic imagery that emerge from the books of Dickens, this case delves into aspects that appear during the process of transgressing boundaries between living and nonliving objects. Thus, five separately recorded voices are played back through five speakers strategically placed reflecting a courtroom layout.
The voices, representing the dead, share their life stories by making suggestive statements about the changes in the social, cultural and political sphere. At the root of these metaphorical texts, there is also a smile provoked through irony and sarcasm.