Gregory Vincent
Project title: A Heuristic Exploration of Outdoor Artmaking and Place Attachment: An International Student's Perspective
Originally from the South of France, Grégory relocated to Brisbane four years ago with his wife and daughter. After completing graduate studies at the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford, Grégory began his professional career in London’s financial services industry, where he founded the UK’s first web-based crowdfunding platform for creative projects. In his early 30s, an encounter with the works of Carl Jung opened an unexpected path, eventually leading him to re-train as a psychoanalyst. During his apprenticeship, Grégory was initiated to the enigmatically brilliant teachings of Jacques Lacan which, although still largely unknown in Australia, continue to inform his clinical practice to this day.
Art and the Symbolic have been at the heart of both Jung and Lacan's reflections on therapy. And it is thus quite naturally that Grégory developed an interest in the healing potential of art. Grégory is particularly drawn to art's unique capacity to help us symbolise our subjective experience and give form to unconscious processes. Grégory's current research focuses on the "magic" behind art therapy, which he witnessed on several occasions during his training at UQ. In his research, Grégory seeks to shed light on the factors which, in the engagement with the artistic medium, facilitate the healing process of symbolisation.
Several of Grégory's works at this exhibition explore these ideas. One piece draws on the ancient Greek Symbolon, an artefact from which the word “symbol” originates. Symbolons were usually circular pieces of clay broken into two halves and distributed between parties to serve as a means of recognition when rejoined.
A Symbolon can potentially be made whole again by reassembling the two halves, but each piece taken separately may represent our inherent lack and tension towards otherness. Gregory’s feature work, the Concretemallow, was inspired by his daughter’s Squishmallows (soft, cuddly toys) and by his therapeutic work with teenagers struggling with “concrete thinking” – or difficulty using metaphor and symbol. The piece invites not only viewing but also touch, emphasising art as a sensory, participatory experience. Another installation, The grass is always greener on the other side (of the world), reflects on the themes of migration and belonging. The delicate watercolour The Healer honours the unsung heroes – not all of them human – who remain hidden behind the veil of healing. Each work is an invitation: to touch, to wonder, to remember that what is missing often speaks the loudest.
The Healer
Watercolour pencils on paper
60 x 43 x 3cm
The delicate watercolour The Healer honours the unsung heroes – not all of them human – who remain hidden behind the veil of healing.
ConcreteMallow 1
Cement, hydrated lime, PVA glue
23 x 17 x 14cm
Gregory’s feature work, Concretemallow 1, was inspired by his daughter’s Squishmallows (soft, cuddly toys) and by his therapeutic work with teenagers struggling with “concrete thinking” – or difficulty using metaphors and symbols. The piece invites not only viewing but also touch.
ConcreteMallow 2
Materials used
Cement, hydrated lime, PVA glue
19 x 19 x 22cm
Concretemallow 2 was inspired by his daughter’s Squishmallows (soft, cuddly toys) and by his therapeutic work with teenagers struggling with “concrete thinking” – or difficulty using metaphors and symbols. The piece invites not only viewing but also touch.
Symbolon
Cement, hydrated lime, PVA glue
20 x 21 x 7cm
In Ancient Greece, Symbolons — from which the word “symbol” originates — were usually circular pieces of clay broken into two halves and distributed between parties to serve as a means of identification. A Symbolon can potentially be made whole again by reassembling the two severed halves.
The grass is always greener…
Print on plastic sheet
29 x 21 x 6cm
The grass is always greener on the other side (of the world) explores themes of migration and belonging. The work reflects on displacement and the idealisation of distant homelands or far away destinations.
Totem is Taboo
Papier mache, cardboard, scraps of paper
18 x 17 x 9cm
The piece’s name is a wordplay on Freud's "Totem and Taboo”, itself largely based on observations of the indigenous Australian kinship systems. The work deals with the topical question of the slain father.