Continuous Self: Series Four

2005 Site specific to Tom Thumb’s Archway, Bow East London
Commissioned by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Commissioned to undertake a community focused redevelopment of Tom
Thumb’s Arch, Shiraz Bayjoo has produced ‘Continuous Self: Series 4’. A
development and finalisation of existing works, Continuous Self: Series 4,
engages with Bayjoo’s ongoing portrayal of the human form as it relates to
its environment. In this last work, Bayjoo has directly involved the
environment local to him, installing his work in a site-specific location and
working with the local community in developing this finished piece.

Bayjoo describes Tom Thumb’s Arch as a ‘pinch-point’ and ‘crossroads’
through which hundreds of people pass daily. Tom Thumb’s Arch is a silent
observer of the diversity of life in London’s East End. The small scale of this
walkway accentuates the already busy flow of people between Bow and
Roman Road. Bayjoo’s Continuous Self: Series 4 aims to draw attention to
the constant flux of human activity that takes place in and around this local
landmark.

The amorphous painted forms that Bayjoo has hung on the walls of this
archway reflect the passing of individuals and groups, their stillness freezing
in time the fleeting activity of the busy pedestrian. These semi-human
figures point toward a synthesis between individuals and their environment,
as the boundaries of their forms are indistinct, hovering between figuration
and abstraction. A further synthesis is also alluded to; the close co-existence
of these humanoid forms hung in space signifies the interdependence of
those who pass daily through this arch, sharing space. Continuous Self:
Series 4 is, in this sense, a representation of the existence of a community of
individuals – a bedrock of a free society.

Written by Michael R. Watson