Meanwhile by Susan Boyle

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Fear of Objects (dog) 

C-Type Digital Photograph, 2014 

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A Deviation In Conditions (dog) 

C-Type Digital Photograph, 2013

Fear of Objects (plant) 


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A Deviation In Conditions (house), 


Untitled 


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A Deviation In Conditions (untitled) 


Fear of Objects (hand) 


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A Deviation In Conditions (foot) 


Untitled 


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A Deviation In Conditions (victorian) 


A Deviation In Conditions (pillowcase) 


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Fear of Objects (chairs) 


A Deviation In Conditions (Nobody Lives Here), 


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A Deviation In Conditions (Nobody Lives Here) 

C-Type Digital Photograph,

Fear of Objects (ornament) 


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Fear of Objects (pole) 


Untitled 


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A Deviation In Conditions (stage) 


Untitled 


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A Deviation In Conditions (door) 


Fear of Objects (dummy) 


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A Deviation In Conditions (jesus) 


Fear of Objects (feet) 


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A Deviation In Conditions (untitled) 


A Deviation In Conditions (ceiling) 


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Fear of Objects (table) 


A Deviation In Conditions (roses) 


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A Deviation In Conditions (hand) 


Untitled 


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Untitled 


Untitled 


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A Deviation In Conditions (stroszek) 


The Time (2.38pm) 


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A Deviation In Conditions (painting) 


Untitled 


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Untitled 


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52 

Art is the intensification of the everyday 

Ana González Chouciño

Any definition of art was not totally convincing for me until this one: 

“Art is the intensification of the everyday”. 

Susan Boyle seems to agree. Most of the times she photographs 

quotidian objects and scenes: the corner of a room, a curtain, a 

razor blade, an urban landscape. Sometimes they are on a neutral 

background, but other times, the photos are taken from difficult 

angles where we hardly can recognize them. Suddenly, the everyday 

raises lots of questions: it is intensified at the same time that 

disturbing elements emerge. 

She often refers to everyday as a mechanism of control. Everyday 

becomes a safe area where we act by inertia. Like a kind of trance, 

routine actions keep us dormant, comfortable although with a 

permanent feeling of disquiet that reminds us that something is 

wrong. We are caught in a trap and we are not really sure if we want 

to escape. Susan represents this infinite repetition through things to 

do lists, bills, and instructions sheets: paper that does not let us see 

beyond. 

Boyle makes us aware of this dilemma, and then shakes this 

apparent calmness to remind us this is a fake; to remind us that 

everything can change at any time. Serendipity slips through her 

images. A small event can change everything, can break the inertia 

and precipitate a chain of unexpected events. Whether we want to 

take this opportunity or not is our responsibility. She just makes us 

feel uncomfortable in an attempt to wake us up. 

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54 

Susan Boyle

In my work I examine the concept of order and disorder where I look at the ways 

in which we may seek to regulate the uncertainty and disorder of life through 

control mechanisms, and the relentless disruptions and disarray that surround us 

that always prevent ultimate attainment of total control over our lives (and that 

of others and our environment). 

I also explore whether we really wish to escape the confines of control structures 

(both external and self-imposed) and their rules and instructions, or if we readily 

accept and create directions that afford us stability and allow avoidance of selfexamination 

and introspection. My work often incorporates and subverts the 

forms of standard rules, instructions and our own personal ‘routines’ where I 

incorporate habitual routines and repeated, sometimes obsessive, banal actions 

in creating my work and often use everyday paraphernalia we accumulate and 

use as methods of regulation such as lists, receipts and instruction leaflets. 

The images in my photographic work often signify occurrences or incidents we 

may encounter that can often imperceptibly affect us but could also be significant 

elements of change in our own lives and those around us. I am interested in 

the conditions that sometimes start a whole chain of events that can disrupt 

our planned course of action and ultimately alter both ourselves and our lives in 

unexpected ways. 

I often produce images of objects and elements of our surroundings in a 

somewhat unsettling and slightly ominous way where the objects of the familiar 

and everyday seem to invoke a sense of disorder rather than the comfort 

they are intended for. I explore the use of routine and the familiar to exert a 

sense of control, and address the notion that despite our strivings to create an 

ordered settled environment, there will always be telltale signs of discordance or 

unsettling situations that occur in seemingly innocuous places. 

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This catalogue accompanies: 

Meanwhile, an exhibition by Susan Boyle 

28 November - 21 December 2013 

Interviewroom11, Edinburgh 

http://www.susanboyleart.com/ 

© the artists 2015, all the rights reserved 

Texts © Ana González Chouciño, Susan Boyle 

First published by IR11 publications, 2015 

Photo credits: Susan Boyle 

Design by Alessandro Di Massimo 

Cover by Alessandro Di Massimo 

Cover image: A Deviation In Conditions (stroszek) by Susan Boyle 

Typeset in Titillium, designed by Campivisivi, Urbino (IT) 

SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1

Interviewroom11 is an artist run gallery and project space located in the centre of 

Edinburgh. We are part of ForestCentre+, an arts complex including artist studios 

and resource space situated in Argyle House, an old 1960s brutalist office block, 

currently being rehabilitated for creative industry and technology uses. 

Gallery Committee & Co-Directors: 

Mirja Koponen 

Scott McCracken 

Ana González Chouciño 

Ellyce Moselle 

The exhibition “Meanwhile” was coordinated by the IR11 team 

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped us to make this exhibition possible.

Susan Boyle 

MEANWHILE 

IR11 publications, 2015

Meanwhile by Susan Boyle

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