Jesse Darling’s sculptures are wounded, skittish, and unsteady, but they are also brimming with life. Made from low-cost everyday materials, these unassuming assemblages evoke bodies with an unusual poignancy; they are also determinedly non-monumental. Unable to use most of their right arm due to a neurological disease, Darling was struck by the inherited ideologies and ableist machismo that had initially informed their understanding of sculpture: ideas of ‘hard work’ and ‘the gesture’. They explain: “Now I’m trying to think and work towards a non-macho sculpture practice by gathering and assembling small objects in narrative formulations, and learning to draw with my left hand”.
