Simon Ryder

The Words to Say It Installation, 1999

A large part of Simon's year went into making the substantial piece The Words to Say it. In this installation Simon covered the floor of the central area of the crypt with a 'skin' of moulded latex and included a video projection of an inverted mouth soundlessly speaking, to suggest 'a language before words'. Additionally a suspended walkway took visitors across the space without touching this ground. The Norman crypt lies beneath the present day Cathedral and is the oldest part of the building dating from around 1089 and was later abandoned as a place of regular worship due to flooding. Water still sits around the bases of the pillars (which are hidden beneath ground level), and the atmosphere of this 'fluid nascent environment acted as a counterpoint to the main body of the building above - with its ritual words whispered, spoken, broadcast or sung but always carefully chosen - turning your thoughts back to beginnings'.

Simon Ryder studied Zoology at Bristol University (1984), Fine Art at Kingston University (1992-5) and Royal College of Art (1995-7). Group exhibitions include It Happens Every Day, Gallery wl 39, Amsterdam; Below Stairs, Osterley Park House, London (1998) and '137@' 137 Chatsworth Road, London (1997). Awards include the Ray Finnis Trust Prize in 1997 and Battersea Park Sculpture Prize in 1995.