Limited Terms of Grace (Work in Progress)

To bend over backwards is -

To do ones utmost.

To make every effort.

To go out of ones way.

To bend over backwards is an attempt to do more than one can.

In Limited Terms of Grace, Ida Sophia uses the backbend as a metaphor for examining unsustainable performative behaviour. To prove oneself, to regain love or to show strength - we backbend driven by self-serving needs. As part of the series Hope Dies Last (2022-), Ida re-examines the actions she performed as a child in vain hopes of reclaiming her Father’s favouritism after he dedicated himself to Religion. Despite her irreconcilable agnosticism with the Church, Ida performed religious acts diligently. In Hope Dies Last (2022-), Ida discusses vain hope through the theatrical body-bound materiality of the church that aesthetically defined her upbringing.

A series of 11 bent back crucifix’s stand in a repetitive circular formation. Created in the materials that build a Christian Church - including varnished wood, marble, brass, cotton, wax and stained glass, the sculptures represent a discombobulated and skewed output of Ida Sophia's failed attempts to receive Grace. In the installation, one space remains which is to be completed through a performance of the backbend position by Ida Sophia. This physical position is not easily maintained long term. The legs shake from tension. Vertebrae are over extended and tightly compressed. Blood pressure increases. The vanity of hope is laid bare in the inevitable physical and metaphorical breakdown. The overt exertion of an enduring, suffering body questions the observing bodies how they too perform, make every effort, attempt more than they can - or should to service their own vain hopes.

Limited Terms of Grace is currently in production.

Featured works (pictured)

Limited Terms of Grace (Prayer Kneeler) 2024

Red Velvet, foam, wood, cotton, fixings

1.4m x 0.8m x 0.75m

Limited Terms of Grace (Altar Cloth) 2024

Wood, cotton, fixings

1.4m x 0.8m x 0.75m