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ARTISTS' STATEMENTS
Fion Gunn, Ardern Hulme-Beaman, Maureen Kendal, Nazia Parvez, Alan Hudson, Shoran Jiang, Pamela Sullivan, Audrey Mullins, Gabriela Mendoza |
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Fion Gunn contemplates the impact on her own work from curating other artists in large-scale exhibitions, creative journeys experienced through migration, displacement and transformation.
Title: Odyssey: Ride by Fion Gunn I created this work as part of an ongoing series in which I explore a central theme - that of transformative personal journeys. My own journey is played out against the backdrop of global movements- those of peoples, cultures, materials and ideas. I remain inspired by the narrative describing Odysseus’s journey as he made his way home to Ithaca in the aftermath of the Trojan war. It is a story of obstacles and hardships, errors of judgement and lessons learned, and the ultimate metaphor for our human condition, for the experience of life itself. In this manifestation of Odyssey, created during the first lockdown of our COVID world, I wanted to capture the feelings of flux, of uncertainty, of experiencing the new and the unexpected in a way that is positive and exciting. This is a Ride and also a voyage of discovery. I felt the need to create a metaphorical environment which allowed me and subsequently, the visitor to encounter flux and uncertainty in a positive way - to be transported by it. In making the VR landscape for this Odyssey, I turned to the resources of memory, imagination and all kinds of manifestations of art. This is a helter-skelter which draws on old narratives and myths, passion for seas, oceans and the creatures which inhabit them, for the revelations encountered in poetry and subliminal ‘imagined-scapes’. As someone gripped by the uber-inclusiveness of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ I wanted something of that stream of consciousness sensation to be present in my artist’s world. My fellow artists’ worlds can be accessed through portals in mine so there can be constant movement and interaction between us. We have in effect created a multiverse together. The element of differentiation i.e. including artists who have different approaches, different thematic and conceptual practices, is key, as is the consideration of multiple pathways and multiple perspectives. Multiplicity gives visitors/viewers choice and empowers them to decide how they will navigate and interact with the experience. When starting out on this project - working with ideas around interactive ‘conversation’ were a priority for me and derived from my approach to curation. The hub which I created, is an extension of these ideas - when putting together an exhibition, it’s important to think of the whole environment, how to make it attractive and welcoming. If artists neglect this, then the experience of their work is diminished for the visitor, and in the end for themselves. |
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Maureen Kendal offers a vision of migration, trauma and joy. Experiencing an immersive world, may open up deep wells of forgotten emotions, because we are all people, migrating from trauma, trying to survive in unfamiliar territories and seeking out connections.
Title: Remembrance Dance By Maureen Kendal We bring with us unfolding memories, subliminal, epi-genetic, prehistoric, ancient, historical and futuristic when we wash up on new shores. Our old languages and music get lost in translation, our recollections reconfigured. “We invite our participatory audience to collect traces, remnants, memory-triggers of their time with us in our virtual multiverse, we also invite them to witness the current time. Gathering visual/audio collectibles from the flotsam and jetsam washed up on our immersive shores or hidden in virtual forests and caves, we ask our users to create their own story. This narrative offers hope and transformation for women and children who find themselves fleeing as a result of war, whilst this war can be external, sometimes war zones are within the domestic space. As director of an organization which combats cyber-abuse, the artist supports at first hand, families who find themselves vulnerable and under threat, in dysfunctional family relationships, often triggered by external conflicts, (Cybercare, 2021). Myths of tragedy and transformation are reflected across many diverse cultures echoing these narratives, e.g: the myth of Hecabe (Croally, 2007)), the story of Ruth, (Gottleib Zornberg, A. 2009). Features of this artwork enable users to remember ancient untold memories, to gather and collect, to reframe and to manipulate scale, to tap into auditory worm-holes. Visitors have opportunities to write poetic notes and to transform memories by acts of re-creation, each one a new journey. Gunn, 2021 describes: “Visitors can follow pathways through our multiverse without repeating themselves and that their experience can be open-ended and always differentiated”, Gunn, 2021 shares :“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man” (Heraclitus circa 535 BC/ BCE) or woman. Ardern Hulme-Beaman
Title: Finding my feet These are ancient crane footprints, dating back 5,000-8,000 years, discovered on Formby Beach in the UK's Northwest. Preserved in mud from a time when the area was marshland due to lower sea levels, these footprints offer a glimpse into the past. As the sea level rose, the marshland submerged, and layers of sand covered the mud. Recent centuries have seen shifts in sea currents around Merseyside and the Wirral. The northern Merseyside beaches are eroding, while the southern Wirral, south of Liverpool and the Mersey River, sees mud deposition, transforming into marshland. This cyclic process, involving erosion in some areas and deposition in others, unfolds over millennia and is caused by sea level fluctuations, changing currents, and shifting river courses. These are among the first such footprints I found on Formby Beach and started my interest in capturing them. Nothing is permanent and these are the edges of footprints being worn away. These footprints might have fossilised like dinosaur footprints if there was a hillside or mountain beside this area, and if that hillside had a landslide that covered the mud flats, or if there was significant sea-level rise that covered these footprints rather than wash them away. But for these footprints that’s not the case and they are disappearing into the waves. When considered like this, it’s extraordinary that we see these footprints at all and it always makes me consider the things we don’t see – the flocks of birds that circled or never landed on these muddy surfaces. Or the birds that when they did land on the mud surface were maybe too small and light to leave any impression at all. Shoran Jiang
Nazia Parvez - Displacement
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Nazia Parvez engages with topographical and emotional displacement, creating a field of wheat within a specific location in a virtual city which could be London, New York or endless 'elsewheres' which visitors can wander through.
Title: Displacement By Nazia Parvez The A-Maze group created a shared space in which I was able to connect with other artists. It provided a forum for us to discuss our experiences of the pandemic and the impact of lockdowns both collectively and individually. These discussions were a means to explore different ideas and themes — both those I have an ongoing interest in — and others that were either new or less familiar. The themes that emerged from our interaction have either directly or indirectly informed my personal project: ‘Displacement’ and also sparked new projects. Given my background in architecture and urbanism, I’m interested in how the pandemic has transformed how we experience and interact with our physical environments and with each other. The lockdowns have shifted some of our conventional ideas around space and place, community, connection, public and private, and what it means to be present. They’ve catalyzed a shift from an ‘embodied’ experience of our environments to a disembodied connection with a constructed space, a kind of hybrid of physical and virtual elements. It’s been interesting and valuable to explore the interconnection of these themes with those the other artists are pursuing. |
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Alan Hudson - Alan has always been fascinated by both Arts and Science and its integration, he describes his creative journey: "I love clock movements, intricate machinery and how this mesmerises viewers. I enjoy watching the expressions on visitors’ faces in the clock room of the British Museum. In my workshop I design and make stained glass windows and lamps, experimenting with the changing illumination. I love seeing my enthusiasm for glass spread to my customers. I was torn at school (and made timetables difficult) by wanting to study both arts and science. I compromised by studying Physics with Electronics at Leicester University but followed this by completing a degree with the Open University where I could study Science, Mathematics, Technology, IT, Art, and Social Science in one degree. In my spare time I painted, experimenting in Photography and film and helped produce a number of Pub Theatre shows. I worked for 15 yrs in Commercial IT as a Systems Programmer and then IT manager. Growing bored with this I began lecturing in IT at various London Universities and opened my stained glass business. Later I moved into lecturing in multi media which enables wonderful combinations of Art and IT to be created. Much of my work was centred around 3D worlds such as Second Life. I ran a Masters course in e-learning and ran summer schools within Second Life. This was a highly imaginative environment where students could build fantastic 3D environments and learn coding at the same time. Workshops which ran on campus would begin noisy, but as students logged into Second Life the room would go silent. The students were totally immersed in the 3D environment only communicating with me and their classmates via text in Second Life. I used Second Life to help training and communications in the international EU Funded project GLADNET. This was a European wide project involving teams researching in spectrometry. Members of the project used Second Life for demonstrations and training in the use of Spectrometers. I collaborated with Maureen Kendal in an educational project 'On the Beach'. This encouraged students to use their imagination and begin to use the tools within Second Life to tell stories. I also built an industry sponsored warehouse in Second LIfe for warehouse Health and Safety training. Following University lecturing I developed New Synthetic Theatre (NST) 1 and 2. These were theatre shows within Second Life in which the audience's avatars were the actors on stage. NST 1 was based on the 99% protests around St Paul's Cathedral in London, NST 2 told three stories, The Wise Me of Gotham (who try to capture the reflection of the moon in their nets) Kubla Khan (where the audience visits Xanadu) and Jabberwocky (where the audience slaughter the Jabberwocky with their Vorpal sword). NST 1 and 2 ran for approximately 10 years 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. NST 1: youtu.be/LiKO3ta6InE NST 2: https://youtu.be/yTZnNKmorDw I am currently working on NST 3. This will be a real life model theatre accessed online via Web pages and video streaming. The audience will be able to react and change the theatre environment (changing lighting, mood and music etc). The theatre will be fully automatic using small programmable microprocessors such as Raspberry Pis and ESP8266. The first show will depict the cumulative story The House that Jack Built. Alongside NST 3 I am working with solar power and wind turbines using microprocessors for domestic applications. NST 3 could be solar and wind powered." |
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Pamela Sullivan - Favelas - mixed media, size variable and site specific - 2012 ongoing
Pamela Sullivan - Artist invited for blended projects
Pamela Sullivan has been Artist in Residence at the Williamson Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, although she often exhibits away from the white spaces found in galleries. She creates site specific work and has worked in ruined churches, underground tunnels, derelict buildings and hidden spaces in and around the urban landscape.
Sullivan has worked with Fion Gunn as workshop lead for a series of accessible public workshops at Victoria Gallery & Museum, Liverpool in 2022 and has worked with Gunn previously during the Odyssey: Explorations project & interactive exhibition at Tate Exchange Liverpool in 2019. Her practice has brought her to work with many deprived and excluded communities at Heart4Refugees, SHARe Knowsley and others.
Sullivan works in both 2D and 3D formats using materials such as wood, cardboard and ceramics to make playful work that the viewer is able to walk through and interact with.
Pamela Sullivan - Artist invited for blended projects
Pamela Sullivan has been Artist in Residence at the Williamson Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, although she often exhibits away from the white spaces found in galleries. She creates site specific work and has worked in ruined churches, underground tunnels, derelict buildings and hidden spaces in and around the urban landscape.
Sullivan has worked with Fion Gunn as workshop lead for a series of accessible public workshops at Victoria Gallery & Museum, Liverpool in 2022 and has worked with Gunn previously during the Odyssey: Explorations project & interactive exhibition at Tate Exchange Liverpool in 2019. Her practice has brought her to work with many deprived and excluded communities at Heart4Refugees, SHARe Knowsley and others.
Sullivan works in both 2D and 3D formats using materials such as wood, cardboard and ceramics to make playful work that the viewer is able to walk through and interact with.
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