2 iterations of a work made for Between buildings as between stars, a group show curated by Amber Koroluk-Stephenson at Rosny Barn 2024 and Devonport Regional Art Gallery 2025
Soap Stars II
Soap and Steel.
Soap Stars II is a Milky Way. It is constructed from soaps abandoned in the basin vanities and ceramic clams of the hotel where I perform my duties as housekeeper. A 3-4 star rating.
For the past year I’ve held the keys to the intimate spaces of tourists of Tasmania. When I test the television I can see what they’ve been watching: day-time TV. And by the time I’m cleaning: soap operas. Check out is at 10. Enter Georgia, scrubbing, listening to soapie dialogue, looking in the mirror, daydreaming, hospital corners. I’m working, removing hair from the sink, noticing Mona tickets in the bin.
I start thinking: there’s something about a soap that’s touched a skin. Something…
Motive speculative. Da Da! Dada data! I accept your cookies.
The soap hoard builds up in a plastic bag in the boot of my car. A monster conglomerate of white suddy biscuits and DNA. My car smells good, lemon myrtle.
Moving in the room, Soap Stars’ first iteration took the form of a suspended mobile. It was a balancing act, much like balancing art with my day-job. I often try to bridge these worlds, using the monotony of repetitive work to meditate on artistic quandaries. Sometimes it fails. The mobile fell spectacularly at the opening; a collapsed constellation, a big bang.
Soap Stars II is a continuation of the mobile, inspired by Carl Sagan’s 1981 Cosmos series, particularly its depiction of the Milky Way galaxy we inhabit. Rather than hang, Soap Stars II rises from the floor, reconstituting the amorphous soapy matter into spiral arms. Your position has also changed. Where before stars floated around you, you are now huge, looking down at the galaxy from above.
Soap Stars
Georgia Lucy 