On the 11th of February 2016, Constitution Hill will launch Andy Cohen’s Master of Arts exhibition titled “DeComposition” Resisting Repair (Art & Psychoanalysis) which is the start of looking at a lifetime of relationships with her Objects – both real and created- and is an attempt to re-think her lifelong rapport with art making. ‘Composition’ refers to a structure, often used in a Fine Art context calling for resolve and a pleasing aesthetic. The ‘De’ refers to the challenge of this construct and plays on the word ‘decompose’, calling to mind ideas of decay, degradation but also to fertilizer and fertility. The exhibition draws on the psychoanalytical idea of breaking down, dusting away and going deeper in search of meaning. The show takes place at Constitution Hill’s Old Fort - a living transitional space in a South African context- and is to be housed in the ‘Ramparts’ space, the old reception area where prisoners were received and entered into the system. This embodies the tensions that the artist is investigating parallel to her artistic practice, where through her own experience in psychoanalysis, personal politics and apprehensions are explored emotionally, and then transferred to the studio, culminating in the physical forms on exhibition. Andy Cohen (b.1980) is most interested in the therapeutic application of art in everyday life. Her experience-led artistic practice includes a combination of process-driven paintings and sculpture. Andy Cohen is a Community Art Counsellor (Lefika La Phodiso- The Art Therapy Centre, South Africa, 2014), a practising artist (Hons. Fine Art University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (2004) & Masters Fine Art to be completed in 2016). She is a Provisional Candidate of SAPA (South African Psychoanalytic Association, 2015), a published children’s book author and a mother. Cohen currently lives in Johannesburg, South Africa . EXHIBITION LAUNCH DETAILS Date: 11 FEBRUARY 2016 Time: 17H30 for 18h00 Venue: Old Fort Building, The Ramparts, Constitution Hill, 11 Kotze Street, Braamfontein, Jhb For more information please contact: Constitution Hill Gaisang Sathekge | Exhibitions & Archives Coordinator | g.sathekge@constitutionhill.org.za | 0815610260 | www.constitutionhill.org.za Phetsile Nxumalo | Marketing Coordinator | p.nxumalo@constitutionhill.org.za | 0614656691 | www.constitutionhill.org.za