Part II: Expedition
Eve in Exile has had an exciting journey. In March I exhibited the installation at two different venues for Women’s History Month. First at Espacio Gallery in Shoreditch for 2 weeks followed by another 2 weeks at The I’klectik Art Lab – a creative space for cross-disciplinary artists to exhibit and collaborate on projects together. Whilst exhibiting at The I’klectik, classical oboist Catherine Pluygers responded to the Eve in Exile installation with an improvisational piece. I found out that she was Dutch and had family in the camps in Indonesia during WW2 as well.
Things did not slow down. Eve in Exile had barely been back in my studio before I moved her to the next location where she was exhibited at the Oil & Water Gallery in Old Wandsworth, as part of the 2-week Under the Radar exhibition curated by Patsy Buchanan. There was a steady flow of visitors and it was a great opportunity to engage a new audience with my installation. Plus Patsy arranged an evening for me to read excerpts from my Omama’s war journal to an audience interested in the art and the story. The evening led to some interesting and emotional dialogue, as there were those in the audience who had also been impacted by the experiences of their families interned in the camps.
But the story did not end there for the Eve in Exile installation, as in June I was excited to curate my work in my own studio at the Kingston ASC’s Annual Open Studios. We had a good footfall of visitors, the standard of work across the studios was high and we all worked hard to make it a pleasurable experience for everyone. I was pleased with the amount of interest and dialogue Eve in Exile and the sculptural pictures generated. It was a fun couple of weekends and I made some great connections and sales.
While Eve in Exile was on tour I had time to work on a commission for my local church’s 125th anniversary celebration. I was given the brief to create something that reflected the history and community spirit within the church. It is a church with a diverse community spanning every continent over several generations, with some new members and others had been there all their lives. Therefore, I decided that I would capture the concept that the church was the people not the building while still respecting its history.
I created a collage in the shape of the building and surrounds using photo headshots of each member of the church, past and present. The photos of the older members made up the roof and the history shared with me by the older members along with old church publications formed the text that I weaved into the foundations. The pillars at the entrance to the building consisted of photos I took of many of the plaques I found around the church.
Everyone I spoke to was excited about the project and very helpful in coming forward to have their photographs taken. Many of them shared their old photos with me of past members and things that had taken place within the community, I was able to incorporate the old photos along with the ones I took into the collage. Everyone was keen to be involved in some way. One man even asked me to visit his mum who had been a member of the church most of her life but now was elderly and immobile. I was quite moved by his desire for her to be included in the project. It was a special experience to meet with the people that made up WPBC's community and I was touched by everyone's willingness to participate.
The unveiling of the artwork, titled Celebrating 125 years of worshipping, growing, and serving together in Christ, took place on the 6th of June and the collage was very well received and now hangs in the foyer at the entrance to the church.
In August I exhibited with The Artist Pool at the Menier Gallery in London Bridge. Forces of Nature was a month long exhibition, which meant we were able to get more visitors to come and see the work. One visitor turned out to be an art blogger who reviews exhibitions in and around London. I was especially pleased with her review of my work. Additionally, we organised several events during the exhibition and I particularly enjoyed the performance art piece by Julia Tester.
In September I was back at Espacio Gallery for the Form and Vision exhibition and was impressed with the standard of work across the exhibition, the way it was curated by the excellent Terry Beard and Stephen Murfitt.
Later that month, and the highlight of the year, my Eve in Exile installation was shortlisted for the Passion for Freedom Award! and it was exhibited at the Mall Galleries on The Mall alongside guest artists Jessica Fulford-Dobson, Skateistan and Jamie McCartney’s “The Great Wall of Vagina”. It was an exciting evening with a long queue outside for most of the evening, waiting to just get into the exhibition. And I made a friend, another exhibiting artist Emma Elliot, who received two awards that evening.
Never a dull moment, there was even controversy over the banning of one of the artist’s – Mimsy’s “Sylvanian Families who are interrupted by MICE-IS” – due to security concerns. All in all it was a memorable night.
All in all an empowering year and as such, I started work on a new series of paintings and an unusual installation.
But that’s for 2016, so watch this space!