James Nunn
All About Snail Love: Forgetting to Leave the House is an investigation into the reclusive domestic life of a Snail-Man and his snails. The objects, documents and sounds in this exhibition are all that remains of their life together; a speculative archive collected and maintained by snails. It is part of an ongoing project, Munging (an)Archive, which explores multi-sensory approaches to engaging archival materials, through a snail-like methodology. To ‘munge’ is to munch, to devour, to process orally. The fictional character Snail-Man was written by munging (and reconstituting) an archive of historical newspaper clippings, chronicling the dubious exploits of a minor celebrity: a man who claimed to love snails. Through chewing these documents new questions emerged. What is love between human and snail? Perhaps we should hope, not to receive snail love, but to offer a snail our love. Perhaps we should all become more snail-like.
James Nunn, Install View. Image Courtesy: University of Melbourne.
James Nunn, Install View. Image Courtesy: University of Melbourne.
James Nunn, Munging Archive (Fever), laser print, snail slime, dandelion pigment, ink, 2023.
James Nunn, Munging Archive (Fever): production photo, laser print, letterbox, snails, 2023.
James Nunn, The Perfect Container: A Dialogue Between Two Snail Archons, single-channel video, 21.02 mins, 2023.
James Nunn, 12 Questions for a Snail-Man (Was the Atmosphere in Your House Changing?), archival print, chewed newspaper, acrylic paint, 2023.
Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
University of Melbourne