Year: 2024
Medium: polyester sheeting
Dimensions: Wall: 240 x 335.3 x 74 cm (94 1/2 x 132 x 29 1/8 in.), Window: 96 x 259 cm (37 3/4 x 102 in.)
Acquired from Pace Gallery, 2025
A rectangular opening is set into the wall standing before the window, where multiple layers of polyester film sheets are arranged upon one another to form elegant pleats. As natural light streaming in through the window passes through these folds, it refracts along the gently curved surfaces created by the sheets, reaching the viewer's eyes as a fantastical scene. The view beyond the window, the silhouettes of people walking between the work and the window, and the ever-changing daylight from dawn to dusk are all absorbed into the piece, becoming part of its inner atmosphere. While Donovan is known for her use of diverse materials, she approaches each one from a perspective detached from its practical utility, creating unexpected phenomena to emerge from the material’s inherent properties. The film sheets used in this work possess excellent heat resistance, chemical resistance, and water resistance, making them highly stable against environmental changes. Superior to paper in terms of archival properties, the material is typically used for important technical drafting requiring precise reproducibility. However, by severing this connection to practical contexts, Donovan allows the material's pure characteristics to manifest directly as optical and spatial phenomena.
