WELCOME TO THE REDISCOVERY EXHIBITION!
We hope you enjoy.
COLLECTIVE STATEMENT
Throughout working on this collective project, we have been exploring what "Rediscovery" means to each of us. The exhibition explores reflection of time, progression of societal ideas and nostalgia. In our current practices we each attempt to challenge and question what rediscovery means, whether it is investigating culture, wanting to relive the nostalgia of a particular moment in time, playing with memories of a lost environment and the rediscovery of 'self' and gender. As artists we have all recently felt a resurgence of interest into a particular cultural idea or societal issue and use our practice to exhibit our journeys with these ideas.
The video below will take you through a virtual version of our exhibtion or you can scroll down to see the pieces in full. For optimum viewing please use a tablet, laptop or desktop.
Thank you for coming!
JADE BUCHAN
What Do We Need?
Size photos are 42 cm x 59.4 cm
Throughout my current practice I have been exploring my take on rediscovery, looking at
personal views on human experiences. Searching for what people want in life, their desires,
what makes them happy. Through looking at my own experiences with materialism and how
it has affected my view on the world. Creating a negative outlook on money, coming from a
family with little money. Money has always been a main goal in life and having the concept
that money will make you happy. However, through recent years my ideals of what money
has changed. By travelling, meeting new people and conversations between friends. I’ve
realised there is more to life than chasing a trend that we are competing with each other of
who has what. Instead, I’ve been on a self-search, finding the sort person I want to become
by experiencing friendships, falling in love and exploring nature around me. I want my work
to question how involved we are with money, from using spray painted pieces of clothing
that have bold phrases “the simple life”, “give me more” and “where is the desire” These
phrases come from what we are searching from life and how we form obsessions over
materialistic, craving an object that will be thrown out in a year or so. Incorporating
photography, to best display my work by creating a scene that follows someone getting
ready for the day, with the clothes showing the thoughts that drives them to carry on
working. I understand that money is a major part of life and help so many people struggling,
the help from organisations that are trying to make a difference in people’s lives in attempt
to make the world a better place for the future. I believe there’s too much focus on
becoming rich that we forget that they are other ways to make your life way you want it to
be.
ZOE ADAMS
A Guide To Women's Attire
Mixed Media and Textiles
1m x 1m
Surrounding my current practice, I have been rediscovering social standards for female fashion – particularly varying from the 1800’s to present day. Throughout this, I have begun to explore form, fit, colour palettes and the change in trends and ideas. Following a more contemporary approach, I have experimented with mixed media; predominantly embroidery on unusual surfaces. Broadening the way I exhibit work, I have chosen to produce an artwork that includes the viewer and focuses on participation to understand the message behind it. A Guide to Woman’s Attire showcases the main fashion statements for women during each main era, leading from 1800 to 2020 and acting as a way to “fashion” an artwork of fashion. By using individual pieces to show an outfit, the viewer is able to themselves look at what era attracts them most and focus their viewpoint on what interests them. The pieces are able to be singular or layer to create a more in-depth comparison of the trends history’s female population made popular. I’ve always been inspired by history – especially feminism based – so incorporating what interests me whilst educating myself and others peaked my inspiration. Fashion is also a large part of my artwork and I strive to find contemporary ways to show fashion without it being literal – using embroidery intertwines textiles with my artwork as a subtle nod to the fashion world; the bright colours of the thread also introducing modernity in contrast to the historical element of the piece.
CHARLOTTE SENDALL
Uncovering Memories
Size A2
Card backed mixed media on a map, including sewing machine textiles and photography.
The majority of my creative work includes drawing, painting, sewing and mixed media ranging from anything as small as A5 to anything as big as A1. I have found that my work style is never typically the same, and tends to gradually progress into a different medium every few months. I am rather attracted to architecture and the formation of buildings and patterns we see within old & modern architecture. The Venetian architecture will forever have an impression ingrained in my mind of a time I will remember for the rest of my life. The surroundings I got to witness whilst walking around were the most stunning sights I had ever seen before. A few artists to name who I have been inspired by in my Venice Project are Ian Murphy, Kirsty Whitlock and George Shaw.
In my opinion, the name “rediscovery” is all about bringing materials back to surface and giving it a fresher response attached to idea. Rediscovering Venice was such a thoughtful and beautiful process for me personally as it touched on so many raw elements of my time there that I had forgotten about. Since I currently cannot go back to Venice, I had to think about what parts of the project I could purposely dig back up and excavate. My pocket tourism map was something that ran through my mind - I felt a really powerful strong connection to the memories attached to this gridded battered piece of paper. In my Rediscovery piece I wanted it to show a story, a memory, and a journey all in one.
Once upon a time I held this map fearful that I had got myself and my partner extremely lost over the course of a few hours wandering around the narrow dimly lit streets of Venice. Strolling down a dark mysterious alleyway seemed alluring and exciting at the time. Before we knew it, we had no clue how to get back. But I like to think we were never truly Lost in Venice. This uncovering of information, and unearthing of old materials is my version of what “Rediscovery” means to me..
ISABEL NELSON
Immersive View Of My Travels
As you will see from my pieces, I am very passionate about architectural
artwork. From a young age, I was always encouraged to look up at my
surroundings and appreciate buildings and their architecture. I often love to
work with fine liner, to create large amounts of detail in my pieces. In a previous
project, I explored why New York is so popular for filming. Through my love of
films, I created pieces that featured locations from a variety of New York based
films.
For this exhibition, ‘Rediscovery’, I decided to revisit some places I have been
fortunate enough to go to on my travels. To begin with I started with a collage of
maps, tickets and sketches that associated with my theme, and from this I
developed my exhibition piece. I have experimented with printmaking and
painting, using buildings and structure to highlight the printing and painting
process, but have returned to my illustration work with fine liner, as I believe I
can create the intricate detail necessary, using this process.
My exhibition piece is intended to create a feeling of escapism and draw the
viewer into the scene. I am able to connect this new project with my previous
work through architecture, and escape further at a time when travel is limited.
KATIE FARROW
Plastic Alchemy
20cm x 20cm, moving image within installation. Within my practise, I like to implement themes of sustainability and time, to make people aware of the environmental issues impacting us all today. I love learning more about our planet through exploring the past, present and future, and what this in turn means for us. Within this exhibition, I am rediscovering the ‘elusive material’ plastic, looking at periods throughout the 20th Century where plastic creation was seen as ‘a miracle’, or ‘a sudden transformation of nature.’ The piece, ‘Plastic Alchemy’, was created to explore these themes, using recycled materials such as Styrofoam and Bubble wrap within the space to display the main moving image piece. Coca-Cola, Mars, Nestle and Danone are responsible for 6 million metric tons of plastic every year. If you’d like to get involved in making plastic packaging illegal in the UK, go to; https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions?q=plastic&state=open
NEHA GILL
Paying Homage...
Photograph
59 x 84 cm.
In my current practice I am exploring the rediscovery of my own dual identity, regarding my
experiences of culture and community as a British-Asian woman. I have recently found
myself desperate to reconnect with my heritage and culture. I began looking through the
family archive and found myself captivated by the heirlooms, the grainy photographs and
home videos and wanted to relive the nostalgia of these moments, whether it was through
listening to songs from my grandfather’s car or re-watching films from the golden age of
Bollywood. All these things sparked my interest into femininity specifically within the
experience and aesthetics of South-Asian culture. I looked deep into the life experiences of
the women in my family and community and wanted to use my work with performance and
photography to tell their stories and experiences. For this piece, I was inspired by the life
experiences of my Grandmother as a first- generation immigrant adapting to life in Britain.
This series of photographs are a reimagined homage to one of my favourite photos of my
Grandmother. I wanted to highlight the juxtaposition of celebratory love and sisterhood
with gossip culture and internalised misogyny within South-Asian communities. I also
wanted to showcase the mundane, everyday rituals of ‘The obedient Indian housewife’ that
I feel most South-Asians are familiar with and how most of these women who are anchors of
the family and community often live in a world of escapism. I really wanted to capture the
idea of ‘the housewife stuck in a daydream’ in these photographs.
GEE STACEY
Bad Girls World
Materials: Acrylic paint, fineliner, card, paper, mount board, photo paper, colour pencil, graphite
Size: 6.2 feet wide, 5.1 feet height
I've never really figured myself out. What is my niche? What do I create that is unique?
One of the things that really stood out to me during lockdown one was the sense of community, and this led to look at my own - the alternative community. Alternative is a broad term, a lot of our community is modelled & labelled after the music we listen - Goth, Metalhead, Emo etc
My community has massive issues that we don't address or hide. My project was based around exploring the issues with sexism & identity in the scene, but also looking at racism and other broader subject.
My final piece is combination of my research, ideas and execution.
I want it to spark a conversation about how women are treated in alternative scenes.
The center piece is a collage of paintings of alternative women, they sent me lyrics they wanted me use on their pieces and I created the backgrounds around both these things. This whole project was a collaboration with women using social media!
The outer ring is a collage of 200 photos of women in rock/metal. One of the biggest misconceptions is that women "simply don't make it" or "they can't scream". I never want to hear another man say he can't find a woman in rock/metal ever again - the 200 bands are just the ones I know personally of, and I found over 100+ more while searching. I used the Evanescence lyrics from use my voice as the song is powerful, talking about how you can take everything but she will still speak up for what is right and just and I really felt they gave the piece the right frame.
If you're passionate about something, shout about it!
JOSIE CUMMINGS
Women's Football Gibraltar
My project is about the history of football and the team I have chosen is Millwall. I
chose this team and researched about the club, supporters and what stood out is
their reputation. I thought it was interesting to look into to see the difference between
men, women and what the meaning of football is to everyone who is involved.
By looking at the history means looking into the past present and future. With this I
wanted to show my version of the past, present and future by using my surroundings
which is where I live in Gibraltar. I have chosen a few landmarks which have
changed throughout the years and is a tourism attraction.
I am passionate about football and how it’s changing from 1885 from when Millwall
started to now in 2021. In the last couple of years politics has been a huge part of
football due to its racism, sexism and also foul play. Due to being a women footballer
this has a major effect in my football career because of equal rights as well as
people supporting the women.
I have taken mini clips and transitioned them into a video to create a story,
documentary and also to show the movement of how I train by documenting it with
my iPhone.
My three videos are a series of my project I have worked towards in different sectors
and have different meanings but they all link to rediscovering football and its history.
The Exhibition is about ‘Rediscovery’ and my project is my own version of what I
think it means to me and my work.
MADDISON ACTON
Life Pages From Diary
‘A Girls Life’ 30cm x 42cm book
‘Go For The Eye’
‘A Dress Isn’t A Yes’
‘Give Us A Smile’ 21cm x 30 cm Posters
Within my practice I explore the divide of experiences between genders and how that can effect self image. Through scrapbooking, posters and mixed media I try to piece together the overarching problems within our patriarchal society. I have previously been interested in how female and male artists are treated differently and wanted to create work highlighting the female experience. Within this exhibition I have rediscovered ways in which I and many others have experienced misogyny and injustice in every day life. Finding ways which I could reclaim the words used against me and other girls. Bringing the injustice to light and allowing a glimpse into the life of a girl. I decided to present this through posters and a scrapbook to open up the stigma against speaking out. Inspired by Katrina Majkut “Boomerang intersectionalism starts with feminism’s tenant of ’the personal is political’ and removes the personal from a topic/subject, so the viewer can focus on and consider the object that was initially made personal.”