JOE RICHARDS 24/09/2023 JOE RICHARDS 24/09/2023

35. ZHONGHUA SUI - A SPACE BETWEEN EFFORT AND DETACHMENT.

The artist contemplates his creative process.

*Zhonghua Sui, Image courtersy of the artist.*

The portrait of the character, dressed in a chinoiserie bomber jacket, blankly looking directly at the viewer, in the middle of Regents Street with a rail of copied garments is such a pivotal image within your body of work - the implied symbolism of ethical tokens provokes the image as high art to me - can you discuss what the image means to you?

When I saw this enthusiastic guy approach and celebrate, taking on the role of a fashion model interacting with the installation, we together created a miniature fashion tableau. To me, it felt like a celebration, with the performance of a fashion model strutting out of the bar, dressed in fancy attire for a glamorous date, and the emotional tension when facing the camera: the mix of nervousness and relaxation, the alienation of relationships between people had all manifested in this miniature spectacle.

Thinking back to your work where you repositioned garments into stores... I found that to be unbelievable and yet when you presented the work it made total sense... can you explain the circumstances around making that body of work?

This is my process for "appropriation" in the fashion industry, using degradation and transformation as means. I purchased some typical essential clothing items from various commercial locations in London and brought them back to the studio. I then meticulously replicated these garments following their patterns, using recycled industrial sails, while leaving oil stains representing labor participation during the production process to reveal the true face and cost of a piece of clothing.

Finally, I returned these degraded substitutes to the original packaging and the store of the original brand, making the fashion consumers in the store my first audience. When they returned to the shelves and became part of the neatly arranged products for sale, they easily caught the customers' attention due to their uniqueness. The only regret is that I politely refuse people who love them because they were "not for sale."

I remember the moment when you received an excellent grade from The Royal College of Art for your degree work and you said that you felt underserving of the mark - your values are very connected to the structure and interpretation of public systems, why is this?

I believe that my practices are a gift from society, and I just discover and document them. I enjoyed the discussions we had at RCA about the path "Humanwear," where a good society can define excellence, but being defined as excellent as a human still makes me feel fearful and humble. On the other hand, the field I care about has never burdened me with the weight of elitism. When I see so many people working so hard without achieving results or no conditions to make an effort, makes me approach excellence with a sense of detachment.

There is a performative aspect to your practice that is really fascinating, the act of making, constructing, and the act of observing, why does human behavior interest you?

As a society practice with uncertainty, my work became the subject of excessive praise from many passersby as I moved professionally along London's Regent Street, even though all of these clothes came from the fast fashion industry.

What's interesting is that the pure white installations representing labor participation, transported to the consumer center, became the focal point of the spectacle and interaction. They were enveloped by the sparkling streets and crowds, but in photos, they often appeared ignored, seemingly less important, with people turning their backs to them.

I wanted traces of audience participation in shows. I once had the audience exchange coats with performers, inviting the audience to play the role of assembly line workers folding origami clothes. Each participant left fold marks and fingerprint traces that were quite uniquely elegant.

This meant that everyone's practice had a compelling story, one that we had never seen or cared about, much like those clean and tidy ready made clothes. I was captivated by grand narratives and the collective unconscious from a young age, but caring about and understanding real individual people as my act of resistance is particularly important to me.

Responding to instinct is something that I really respect within your practice and in conversations which we return to... and yet I wonder, do you need to somehow separate yourself from your art practice and your work as a human, because to be an artist who so directly questions - must be personally very provocative.

If my work still remains as a gentle opponent in everyday life, then I aspire to engage with real societal processes, not just the act of creation itself and the pleasurable emotional experiences. Society being possible, through establishing dependencies and recognizing each other's rights. What I hope to do is not to expose consumerism as a demon but to acknowledge the significance of cooperation in the process of recognizing rights and interests. Long-term certainty and optimization are my goals, rather than confrontational moments. Therefore, artistic practice and the artist themselves can coexist without conflict. I prefer artists to have a business acumen over what businessmen do in the name of fashion.

Joseph Beuys' thoughts that all humans are artists is conceptually so timely, what do you feel about this idea and do you believe it to be true?

I am interested in appeals that emphasize the class of people. I would think it as the power of interpretation in art returning to the hands of individual, where information flattening makes individual expression a form of artistic language. However, what concerns me is that when the boundaries between art and life are blurred, a weary resistance may arise to avoid the ostentation of the fame and the violence of political life. In fact, art is an eternal presence in human social life, and the eternal violence on the path of truth, as well as social events, inevitably need to be experienced.

Zhonghua Sui

JOE RICHARDS 17/09/2023 JOE RICHARDS 17/09/2023

34. RAMI EL ZEIN - A SPACE BETWEEN DARKNESS AND RELEASE.

The enigmatic artist discusses his creative process while introducing a film made from memory.

*Film still from ‘Threaded’ by Rami El Zein, courtesy of the artist 2023.*

Please introduce your film Threaded.

Threaded is a short animated film about concealed identity and cultural and familial expectations of a young Arab man called Faisal. It follows a dark chapter of his life where his secrets are revealed as well as the consequences he suffers. The story is told from his mother’s perspective. We hear her version of the events whilst seeing everything unfold from his side.

Your use of the rotoscoping animation technique within your film is very affecting, there is an amazing sense of depth of emotion captured within your line quality, how did you decide upon this technique and why do you use it?

I’ve been using this technique for almost ten years now and I love it for the exact reasons you mentioned. It allows for the emotional depth to really peak through. It makes you realise that although we are in an imaginary animated world, the story stems from real life. It adds a sense of realism and documentary effect that you can’t really get from other animated techniques. This is the first time I have used digital oil paints. And although it’s a very lengthy process animating frame by frame, I’m deeply enjoying it. It’s such a rewarding experience when you see the clips playback.

You have lived in different countries, with very specific cultures, what have you learned from each place you have lived in and how has this influenced your work as an artist?

I think living in different countries made me realise that it’s ok that I don’t belong to any specific culture. Because I don’t feel that sense of belonging, I focus more on what connects us all emotionally. That’s why I lean into family dynamics and generational trauma in my storytelling. Because these are topics that the audience can identify and connect with. For many people watching a film between a parent and their child, they can understand that connection regardless of where and when the story takes place. It sounds simplistic and obvious but I do think there’s something powerful in that.

The use of darkness as an atmosphere within the film, seems to engulf the characters, the depths of tone seems to wash over the subjects... what is your relationship with darkness within 'Threaded' and can you expand upon your decision-making process to create spaces which seem so expansive and yet undefined?

Because of the dark subject matter, it was important for me to hold back from anything decorative. Some scenes are coloured, some are in black and white. As you watch the film, you will notice how the different timelines look aesthetically different. Every colour in this film is deliberately chosen to evoke a message. Because this film also explores memories and the retelling of events, the darkness around the characters allows us to focus on what is essential in the scene. I am also showing the suppression that the main character is facing.

Freedom of release is something that connects all artists - what do you want to release with your film 'threaded'?

We’re living in a world where hatred and persecution are on the rise around the world. Violence is everywhere whether it’s the refugee crisis, climate change, the agenda against the LGBTQIA+ community etc... I think anyone who is paying attention today is feeling a sense of dread of what’s coming next. My films have always been a means for me to process those feelings. Particularly when I’m drawing frame by frame. That’s my release...

Rami El Rein

JOE RICHARDS 10/09/2023 JOE RICHARDS 10/09/2023

33. AIMILIOA METAXAS - A SPACE BETWEEN DESIRE AND DAYDREAMING.

The emergent artist discusses his creative process.

*Aimilioa Metaxas, 150x190cm, Ink on canvas, 2023.*

There is a quality of levitation within your works, a state emerging between different times... something ancient and future simultaneously seen, can you reflect upon time within your work?

I think is very important to look back on the past to reflect, as long as you don't forget to keep your focus on the future. You need to remember that you can't change what happened in the past, but you can always influence the future.

The past plays a fundamental role in our evolution as human beings. We get the chance and absorb all the knowledge our ancestors dedicated their whole lifetimes to discover and allow us to use this knowledge to advance our ways of living. For me the past, my roots and heritage play a fundamental part in who I am. I grew up in Greece, the myths and art of the Ancient Greeks had a permanent presence in my education, life and upbringing. Because of that, I use characters from old well-known stories to share my ideas and thoughts to discover more about myself.

I found your mention of an ancestral link to silk to be really interesting and how specifically you feel towards not framing your works with glass, please can you expand upon this?

In the digital age, we might have the opportunity to see more images than anyone ever could, but we became blind to the materials that people use in order to create these works. It is important to remember that throughout history the materials themselves were meticulously chosen for each piece and added character to the works, hence it is vital to understand the role the materials played as fingerprints to the artisan's labor, as well as a testament to the time and place the piece was made. From the famous ultramarine to the coveted Tyrian purple, to silk and gold - all these materials add a distinct feel that cannot be experienced through our phone screens. That was one of the ways I protested against the craze of the digital age. I created works using ‘luxurious’ materials which forced people to come and see my works in person, that way they have the opportunity not only to see my works in a different light - from how they would if they saw them online, but also get the chance to interact and exchange ideas with other present individuals. Silk in particular is a material I experimented a lot with in my latest works. My last name is Metaxas which means silk in Greek. The story of my ancestors is that they used to export silk from China to the Byzantine Empire through the Silk Road. I grew up with silk, as it had a permanent presence in my childhood from the stories I would hear about my ancestors to the myths the ancient Greeks wrote, silk has always been this magical material that everyone desired.

*Aimilioa Metaxas, 70x70cm, Ink on silk, embroidered pearls, 2023.*

The reason behind my decision to not place a glass frame onto my paintings is to avoid the separation that it creates between the art and the viewer. Glass as a material is cold, distant and unbendable. Our daily lives have been conquered by seeing everything through a glass frame, creating a barrier between ourselves and our experiences. I wish for people to become closer acquainted with my works, to be able to see them not only through sight but with the sense of touch. I feel that as people crave more intermediate connections, for a sense of touch, a true experience which has been lost in the last few years. Throughout history, humans have experienced life using all of their senses, sight, touch, hearing, smell, etc. We recently lost touch and we wish to get it back.

The symbolism within your work feels very strong, can you expand upon your instinctive connection to the symbolic?

For me, symbolism serves as another form of language. We use symbolism to express our ideas and thoughts when it’s difficult to do so with words. Each image could carry a whole sentence within it and so you could say my paintings can be perceived as texts written in the symbolism language. It’s a way for me to bring forward personal dilemmas and to question the world in which we live. Furthermore, my fascination with mythology and storytelling, fashion, and jewelry, plays a huge part in fuelling my curiosity about how people used symbolism to convey messages and have full-on conversations with no words needed to be spoken. It serves as a testament to the genius creation that we humans are.

You react to events in a very considered way, as an artist what do you feel your work explores and what is affecting your creative responses?

I feel a strong desire to influence people and assist them in dealing with their inner demons. I do believe that finding a balance between living life as an adult while keeping your inner child alive is vital for one's survival. Balancing desire with innocence, responsibilities with daydreaming.

In search of inspiration, I would often go out to meet with people and create my own experiences. It is important to have your own real experiences if you wish for your work to be sincere. Nothing can replace the impact of experiencing something yourself. Humans are at the center of my work. I explore identity through the use of mythology and the depiction of the human body, in addition to how everything is being influenced by the idea of value that we humans have artificially created.

The works often seem quite visually threatening and yet there is also a playful tension that you explore. How do you decide upon the context of your paintings?

Life is all about balance. As the saying goes, for all the happiness you wish for someone, someone else gets cursed with equal misery. Honesty sometimes can come across as threatening or scary, desire and lust cloud your mind and actions. At the same time, though desire is the leading cause for innovation, exploration and knowledge. Playfulness serves to balance these forces of nature, to restrain their destructive nature, and reveal their potential.

*Aimilioa Metaxas, 190x150cm, Ink on canvas, 2023.*

Aimilios Metaxas - Utopian City - until 13 September 2023. Artsect Gallery, Algha Works, Smeed ROAD, London E3 2NR.

Riposte Day Rave - Saturday 16 September 2023, 12:00 Noon. 60 Dock Road, London, E16 1YZ.

JOE RICHARDS 29/08/2023 JOE RICHARDS 29/08/2023

32. ODOTERES RICARDO DE OZIAS - A SPACE BETWEEN THE ALTAR AND THE ALTERED.

David Zwirner, 24 Grafton Street - LONDON.

*Odoteres Ricardo de Ozias, Que Perigo!, 2000, Oil on hardwood board, © Danielian Galeria, Courtesy Danielian Galeria and David Zwirner.*

While Londoners left the city in search of sun this summer, a mass of paintings, bright with the light of Brazilian artist Odoteres Ricardo de Ozias (1940-2011) arrived. Seen for the first time in the UK - at David Zwirner's Grafton Street townhouse gallery, awaiting exhibition from the 1st of September.

Invited for a preview in July, I entered a room, white like a fresh sheet of paper, while an unboxing of paintings was in the process of being propped against the walls ahead of installation. Post-it notes colour coded three themes, agriculture, religion and carnival. As I listened to curator James Green introducing the works, I soon began to appreciate quite how extraordinary and contradictory the paintings on display are.

What appears to be a series of landscapes painted in a childlike, naive style take on an entirely different context when you realise that the works on display, were painted by someone in their fifties and sixties, who only began to draw at age 40. The decision to present this work, in this gallery at this time is conceptually fascinating.

Ozias presents a technicolour vision of a life in review - as if released from possession. His primary palettes clash in saturated celebration and heightened state contemplation - so much so that viewing in silence leaves the viewer deaf, only to hear your heartbeat pound - there is a noticeable colour of understanding that is unsaid yet implied - shades of joy, violence, repression and hysteria.

The mind whirrs for references, for visual clues and reason, but Ozias's genius seems to repel the reinterpretation of others - the works exist outside of the studied chapters of art history - his coded outpourings are a release not made from external sources but from internal processing - the intensity and rhythm of his paintings - concentrated to a hypnotic, teeming focus, suggest of a searching meditative approach to creation which provided catharsis to an individual who for the majority of their life worked hard within the mechanised systems of others.

*Odoteres Ricardo de Ozias, O Coro, 1999, Oil on hardwood board, © Danielian Galeria, Courtesy Danielian Galeria and David Zwirner.*

The previous owner of the works Lucien Finkelstein (1931–2008), amassed a six thousand piece art collection within his lifetime, holding one of the most important independent collections of naïve art, a term initially used to describe the work of French self-taught modernist Henri Rousseau (1844–1910). There are intriguing parallels between the visual style of the two men, both seem focused on a sense of anticipation within their works, with Rousseau's flat tigers and reclining nudes proposing a cardboard cutout of sensationalised terror, Ozias moves further depicting an enclosed pool of crocodiles decapitating a sunbathing onlooker. As with both artists and a generalised observation of naive art, it is the subconscious that is prioritised over the continuous.

The momentum surrounding the exhibition builds as you walk the room, looking into each rectangle like stills from a silent animation, their bold flat colours immediately entertain and then as your eye falls on the miniature details, intricately indicating that not all is as it seems.

Growing up in rural Brazil, a small town named Eugenópolis in Minas Gerais, he worked with his family as an agricultural labourer aged five, leaving the countryside and relocating to Rio de Janeiro at age twenty to be a Mason, before working as a station agent at the Federal Railway Network. Some decades later he is office-bound, working as an administrator due to health problems. It is here, exposed to stationery supplies for the first time that he begins to draw, papering his office walls with caricatures of his colleagues. He is then commissioned by his employers to illustrate a book of Amazon wood species, published in 1981 - and for the first time, Ozias is presented as an artist. The origins of a diagrammatic style created with the tools of a conceptual thinker continue to be employed throughout his career. Found and foraged implements are favoured over traditional art supplies, Formica offcuts form his canvases and industrial gloss his pallet. While the techniques employed as an agricultural labourer and industrial mason possibly influenced the construction of his paintings, where a scene is formulated like a stage set of layers, scenery and players perfectly placed for the gaze of the best seat in the house.

The paintings on show (1996-2004) are from the period the artist was also an Evangelical Minister in the Pentecostal Assembly of God - a context that seems irresistible to connect to a prolific outpouring of works that often frame a central figure, a compositional structure like the altered pieces of an altarpiece.

The artist's introspective searching and questioning is palpably strong when considering the thought that some of his evangelical community rejected his artistic practice with a religion marked by rigorous traditionalism and fundamentalism - opposing the visual depiction of any living beings or religious figures. Knowing this makes the life of Ozias even more fascinating. - The creation of 400 known artworks before death and to iterate without repeating nor edition - all consistent and self-managed as if responding to a private brief removed from sales, concept or fame rather a meditative state of prayer.

*Odoteres Ricardo de Ozias, Ala das baianinhas, 2001, Oil on hardwood board, © Danielian Galeria, Courtesy Danielian Galeria and David Zwirner.*

Odoteres Ricardo de Ozias - David Zwirner 24 Grafton Street, London - 1-29 September 2023.

Special thanks: Sara Chan and James Green.

JOE RICHARDS 27/08/2023 JOE RICHARDS 27/08/2023

31. JOYCE ADDAI-DAVIS - A SPACE BETWEEN CONFRONT AND CONCEPT.

Changemaker Joyce Addai-Davis discusses her radical design purpose while exposing a truth we all need to know now.

*Joyce Addai-Davis photographed in front of Old Fadama Landfill, Accra Ghana. Photographed by Nii Ayi Lamptey (Nii Ayi Visuals), 2023.*

‘Who is in my community? Anyone who wants to navigate life without destroying the earth.’ Joyce Addai-Davis.

I feel that what you have done in your degree would take most a decade to achieve - you truly are a brilliant voice we need to listen to: Please describe your graduation work?

Firstly, in order to understand who I am as a designer you have to understand who I am as a person and how my history and the moments that brought me to this point shaped me.

Being a part of the British educational system in the 90s, I always studied artists who were outside of my cultural identity. I was exposed to mavericks, mutable and eccentric creators. My artists of choice were Cindy Sherman and her ability to mutate into her world narrative using her body. Jenny Saville and her unfiltered ability to unwrap what the world sees as ugly, then present in a manner that we’re forced to come to terms with its beauty.

If I had to describe myself as an external person looking in, I would say to you the reader:

“Joyce is an enigma, a force with a self belief that is impenetrable. There is an internal power that she draws from that to the outside world, may not make sense, but it’s a power that makes her who she is. Being accepted by the world around her isn't of interest because internal acceptance is what fuels her”

This way of being was not always there. Wanting to be accepted by the world was my way of existence. Until pleasing the outside world made me unwell, doubtful and limited my self-expression. I was a slave to kind words, being included, celebrated and living by everyone else's timing. until I wasn’t…

"My graduation work is about a Ghanaian matriarch from the 1900s named Yaa Asantewaa and her imagined counterpart/partner/husband... Whatever you'd like to call him. I referred to him as Yaa’s Boo for the longest time. However, in recent months, I was given the name by a friend who explained that 'Yaw' is the male version of anyone born on a Thursday. In Ghanaian culture, the day of the week you’re born on is associated with a specific name. Since Yaa would have been born on a Thursday, her male counterpart, also born on Thursday, would be called Yaw.

Yaa Asantewaa embodies the fight for a belief system that extends beyond self. The concept of confronting the world irrespective of personal strength or fears is the central theme of my work. Yaa Asantewaa fought against British colonial rule in the 1900s and famously said to the men of the Asante kingdom that if they couldn't resist British rule, then she and all the women of the village would take up arms and fight until death.

My graduation project examines the footwear that Yaa and Yaw would have worn in the present-day if they had to engage in a new struggle. This new battle is centred around 'Waste Colonialism' - the fight against individuals in the Global North who donate their clothing to charity shops, expecting the garments to either be recycled or find new homes for a second life. Unfortunately, this has not been the case for many of the garments. They are bundled up and shipped to several countries in the Global South, including Ghana, my home country.

I showcased three types of footwear: a boxing-style boot for Yaw, a sandal-style shoe, and a unibody protective boot for Yaa (a stiletto boot that resembles trousers). To further emphasise Yaa’s new struggle, I presented the footwear surrounded by a fabric print depicting the landfills I visited in Ghana."

I remember a key moment when you were showing me some work and you said something about how seeing the landfills in Ghana, that you could not look away - that you needed to do something in response - I found that message to be incredibly powerful - can you expand upon this sense of response and purpose?

"For the longest time, making and designing concepts for music videos, creating costumes, and developing garments for fashion brands was fulfilling, exciting, and humbling. However, I discovered that at the end of every project, most items would be discarded as they no longer fit the intended brief. These items had zero use beyond their respective projects. This realisation hit me after visiting a landfill in Ghana in 2021, where I witnessed firsthand the afterlife of our fast fashion hauls (footwear, clothes, toys, household objects, and miscellaneous items), all piled up in a stack resembling a soup-like cereal breakfast.

Once I stood in the presence of this waste mountain, I couldn't approach design in the same way. I couldn't view fashion through the same lens and continue my life as if that mountain didn't exist. I vividly remember our conversation, which feels like it happened just yesterday. I showed you the images of the New Look shoe I found on the beach, complete with its £15 price tag still intact, even though New Look neither manufactures nor sells in Ghana. That's when I realised I needed to follow the trail and become a part of the solution."

You love clothes, and I know that we share that fibrous passion for making what you put on your body - like growing your own vegetables and eating them fresh... tell me about why you make your own clothes?

"In 2016, I realised I was a fast-fashion addict. I would buy clothes based on my emotions at the time and then not wear them because I would encounter problems with the fit of each item I bought.

I always felt that the industry never catered to my body shape, so I had to take matters into my own hands. This usually meant buying from 3-4 designer brands before finding the right fit. It was during this time that I met my mentor, Maria Fidalgo, a 70-year-old Portuguese couturier at the time, now 83. Maria taught me everything I could possibly know about fashion, from taking my own body measurements and drafting a pattern to fitting a garment onto the body. She showed me the true meaning of couture.

For 13 years, I studied by her side, learning about the science of couture. I learned what it takes to create a pair of trousers that fit like a second skin and what makes that second skin drape perfectly against your body, creating a newfound connection between your new 'second skin' and your body. You wouldn't want to discard this second skin because it was crafted with accuracy and love. It felt like a part of your wardrobe family, deserving of protection within the larger community of your clothes.

With this training, transitioning into footwear became child's play. Maria taught me how to create clothing for the human body by instilling in me the core principles of fit, colour, and proportion. This made venturing into footwear a natural progression. If I could establish an identity in my clothing, then creating an identity in my footwear would come naturally.

In summary, the core principles of making your own clothes and cherishing them for longer align with my fight against 'Waste Colonialism.' When you understand the time it takes to create a garment or footwear, you develop a greater respect for the end life of that item. This strengthens my affection for the garments I create, as they become an extension of my body while still honouring the planet on a larger scale."

*(c) ‘Yaa Asantewaa Warrior Boot’ by Joyce Addai-Davis, photographed by Melanie Issaka.*

Designers who are women are often incredibly pragmatic within the work they direct, and within the vision they have - your point of view seems to have such a duality between the practical and the adorned, can you expand upon your style and what it is that you see?

"If I'm not inspired to wear something, then I can't imagine why people in my community would be inspired to wear it either. Who is in my community? Anyone who wants to navigate life without destroying the earth. This pragmatic outlook is where my entire design journey stems from. The final outcomes—whether it's footwear, clothing, or interiors—are all mutable. However, the question 'If it can't be dismantled or absorbed by the earth, then should it really exist?' comes into play.

My style revolves around seeing people develop a consciousness about their purchases, how they care for products, and the afterlife of items they no longer desire, leading up to their disposal. My style involves creating a new kind of individuals who are mindful of the afterlife of their clothing and who respect cultural and historical narratives.

I also envision a digital world where AI can aid in reducing the iterative process in footwear production. Using AI to minimise the number of physical prototypes for a collection is a promising direction for me. Last summer, I learned how to 3D model footwear in Virtual Reality. Subsequently, I collaborated with three talented male creatives: Reiss Dendie in footwear innovation, Quinn Zaffre in creative technologies, and Percy Okine a 3D Designer. Being a woman in a male-dominated creative tech industry doesn't discourage me; rather, it propels me to adopt a community-based approach. Gender aside, a community is essential for bouncing off ideas, particularly a community committed to combating the waste crisis. Gender isn't a factor; it's our collective human responsibility to take action and bring about change.

I sincerely hope that there will be more individuals dedicated to designing in this manner. I firmly believe it's at the epicenter of genuine innovation and represents the future of creative industries and beyond."

Carrie Mae Weems, in a recent talk, advised the audience to pay attention to their work as truth is often embedded in their practice - what do you feel are the ongoing questions within what you do?

"My ongoing questions are: am I creating from ego or am I serving a purpose using the resources I have access to? Will people derive value from this product that I am creating? What might the afterlife of this product look like? Which partners or resources could I connect with to bring my products to life? All these questions stem from a fundamental inquiry: 'If it can't be dismantled or absorbed by the earth, should it truly exist?'

This phrase essentially reflects my intention to avoid introducing a product into the world, fully aware that it may negatively extract from the earth, with no foreseeable plan for how the earth could naturally decompose it once its utility wanes. The fashion industry operates at a rapid pace and is oversaturated, and I am presented with a choice: either abstain from creation or innovate and guide a fresh mindset in the realm of design. I am not the first to adopt this perspective, and I certainly won't be the last. However, a beautiful approach to design emerges when it transcends ego and aspires to create communities and solutions that extend beyond itself.

I do not possess all the answers, and each day presents its own set of challenges. Yet, by presenting my work and its outcomes as a catalyst for genuine global dialogues involving consumers, governments, conglomerates, and fellow designers, I believe genuine transformation can transpire. This, I am certain, aligns with my truth and purpose."

Joyce Addai-Davis

JOE RICHARDS 20/08/2023 JOE RICHARDS 20/08/2023

30. MEETING RIVERS: A SPACE BETWEEN ILLUMINATION AND EMPOWERMENT.

The collaborative discusses their creative process.

*Film still from 'C-sharp' courtesy of Meeting rivers, 2023*.

How did you decide to form 'Meeting rivers? Please can you introduce this body of work?

In the hope of creating a mediation between experiences of borders and a growing sense of displacement, 'Meeting rivers' was formed as a female collective of two.

As how sound relates to the cultivation of seeds, so human beings share space in the forms of distances and physicality. The ongoing practice communicates through multiple locations as a way to expand the possibilities of exchange. Such locations include Germany, India, Iran, Lithuania and Sardinia.

'C-sharp' is an experimental short film that follows a dialogue stretching through zones of time and momentary feelings as a way to reflect on the oppression of both women and nature. Such practice incorporates music produced in collaboration with musicians from India in recent years.

The need for mediation is becoming urgent in order to create an undefined image of peace.

The use of light is immediately very affecting within your works, please can you explain how you use light as a medium?

Light reveals what is veiled and music questions the nature of an answer. Exploring both continuity and distinctiveness.

In this way, the nature of light is similar to that of music. There is always a gap of inaccessibility to grasp them. One cannot hold light or watch melody. Once music and light materialise in space, only then can be perceived as a direct experience.

Both light and music have the feature of “live performance” enabling us to create a metaphor for illumination and empowerment, representing “transformation” and “becoming.”

There is a real sense of movement and observation within your works, I found that to be fascinating especially within the piecing of film footage together so that collectively there is a unity of quest, what is it that you are searching for and what have you learned so far within that practice?

In the world that is torn by ongoing conflict and never-ending bipolarities – the search itself becomes the transition.

In the film 'C-sharp', everything began by evoking the very moment of ‘starting’. The direct use of light, music, and archive footage evokes a growing sense of emergency and confusion while still portraying the process of blooming.

The film is a reminder that myth needs continual reinterpretation.

The journey of 'C-sharp' is inspired by the principles of Permaculture. It is a knowledge of design and the relationship between human beings and space; this provided us with a new direction - a new vision of how agriculture can smooth aggression while creating a mediation between trauma and success.

After visiting Arunachala Shiva mountain in Tamil Nadu, located in south India, we were astonished to learn that the mountain was transformed from a desert into a forested landscape by the legendary permaculture practitioner John Button who noted, that “If there’s a moral to this tale, perhaps it would be that devastated lands have an unseen past, but also an unknowable future”.

You describe your practice as engaging with 'alternative image-making processes', please can you expand upon this terminology?

In expanded cinema, re-evaluating, deconstructing, and subverting cinematic conventions are techniques that have been a focus for many artists, such as Chris Marker and Jonas Mekas. In the search for inherent qualities and liberation from conventional narrative structures of cinema, 'alternative image-making processes' have been employed to create new cinematic languages.

Experimentation with alternative ways of printing, split-screen compositions, filmed images and text projections helped us to look differently, therefore think differently.

The work returns to a sense of specificity of space - as an atmosphere, both physically and very much emotionally - can you explain how space influences and contributes to your practice?

Space in our practice works as an invitation. Space always opens what cannot be perceived. In this way, It is a miracle in itself. It is our main focus to create and expand the politics of effects.

To explore material-spatial components and emotional sense. 'C-sharp' is presented in two screens in order to emphasise the parallels and oppositions. Such a journey of displacement is an attempt to show what is suppressed in the language of borders. It enables us to create a vision where our role becomes that of mediators. Like a romantic manipulation to connect what is disconnected. A short, but possible mission.

Working within a collective is important to your work, can you explain how individually you collaborate and how this union began?

We are inseparable in any of our actions.

Our collaboration is born out of a conversation that started in London in 2015. Both coming from very different cultural backgrounds, through our practice we developed a single voice that focuses on togetherness allowing us to bring a diversity of experiences, locations and conversations, something that we hope to share with our audiences.

Thanks to our desire for expression our collaboration created a unity between two practitioners. It was never possible without one another.

Meeting rivers

JOE RICHARDS 13/08/2023 JOE RICHARDS 13/08/2023

29. LUCIE RIE - A SPACE BETWEEN THE EARTH AND FIRE.

‘An Adventure in Pottery’ - The Holburne Museum - BATH.

*Bowl, 1990, Porcelain, Private Collection.*

'To make pottery is an adventure to me, every work is a new beginning', Lucie Rei.

Paper thin, feather-light, and tremulous with glazes - more like egg shells foraged from cliff top nests than robust domestic wares used by the clumsy British tea obsessed.

It is little wonder why Lucie Rei is adored as a ceramic saint around the world, especially in Japan, her fine-boned petit stature, defiant and strong, like the works on display in The Holburne Museum, Bath.

A tea service of samples made for Wedgwood testify Rei's flexibility to adapt for mass production, the powder blue cups and saucers are respectable and rule-abiding, but it is in the wildness of her iconic works, where the potter sores high above the repression of the domestic - releasing a menagerie of forms which cross over into high art.

The artist's searching for a new beginning with every ball of clay is an emotive reminder of the horror she fled from in Nazi-occupied Austria - her forms mesmerise with their mysterious simplicity and luminous, languid refusal to be tamed, or categorised - feral and magnificent - created with human hands but translated from the depths of fever dreams and nightmares.

*Bowl, 1976, Porcelain, The Anthony Shaw Collection/YorkMuseum Trust (York Art Gallery).*

There is a definite sense of private ceremony within the vessels offered for observation - objects viewed like ancient discoveries where freckled surfaces are sgraffito-ed like ritualistic scarification - offerings to the Gods. A chalice, goblet, and delicate bowls with generous rims, outstretched like a falcon wing - these cups are for the lips of deities to drink deeply. Saturn ringed and haloed with gold, distinctly womanly and warningly self-possessed.

A sprouting of glistening discs presented in neatly glazed rows is a sample of the potter's early years fashioning fastenings for the tightly buttoned London couturiers whom she supplied. At peak production, Rei’s Paddington muse house pottery created 60,000 buttons per month, and the artifacts on display within this poised exhibition are beautiful metaphorical objects - which testify to her lifelong focus of form following function and for simplicity being the highest form of sophistication.

*Tea Service c.1936. Earthenware with unglazed burnished surface. Victoria and Albert Museum.*

Lucie Rie - An Adventure in Pottery The Holburne Museum BATH. Until 7 January 2024.

Thank you: Emma Morris.

JOE RICHARDS 06/08/2023 JOE RICHARDS 06/08/2023

28. ARROW LAI SIU-WAI - A SPACE BETWEEN REWINDING AND TOUCHING GUNPOWDER.

Emergent artist ARROW Lai Siu-Wai describes the creative journey behind ‘A Fleeting Moment’- LONDON.

*‘A Fleeting Moment’ by ARROW LAI SIU-WAI, Image courtesy of the artist 2023.*

1. 'A Fleeting Moment' is a fascinating series - please can you describe the personal narrative behind the work?

"A fleeting moment" is a series of 25 woodcut prints depicting the background after the handover of Hong Kong to China and the countdown in 1997 of "remain unchanged for 50 years" under the policy of "one country, two systems".

By gazing at the series of fireworks (in archival films) I can imagine the changes in Hong Kong over the past 25 years and reflect on my identity as a Hong Kong citizen.

2. The ancient technique of communicating through the reproduction of images by woodcut seems charged today, please can you explain why you chose this medium to express your instincts?

Woodcut is a technique of historical significance and cultural value invented in ancient China. Initially, the woodcut was invented to disseminate information by mass reproduction. Until the 1930s, during the New Woodcut Movement in China, the medium was used to propagate patriotism, reflect social conditions at the time, and boost people's morale against foreign invasion. It is also called a cultural "weapon". I chose this as my creative medium because of its history, value, and functionality. Besides this, the firework is shown in public areas and symbolizes shared identity, creating an ideology in society. I believe that when used as a creative medium in contemporary art, the combination of fireworks and woodcuts can be interpreted in new ways.

3. The changing state of being from Hong Kong is key to your work - how has making work in London about your nationality affected you and your practice?

Hong Kong has a rich British colonial history. Everything from architectural design, street names, and transportation to cultural philosophy is closely linked to British history. After living in the United Kingdom for a while, I started to realise how similar London and Hong Kong are. This strong sense of familiarity made me homesick and I eventually began to think back to my life in Hong Kong. While thinking about home, I realized that many things have been changing slowly in Hong Kong during the post-colonial period, such as the demolition of historical buildings, changes in the system, and a shift in the focus of cultural development, etc. I have lived in Hong Kong for 25 years and witnessed these changes; on the one hand, they were unexpected, and on the other hand, they were quite unfortunate due to the loss of history. This reflection led me to start this series. Since I have been away from Hong Kong for a while, I have felt a sense of distance in terms of my environment and mental state. This enabled me to see my city from a more distant perspective, more clearly
and broadly. Like my firework woodcuts, the viewer needs to give it the distance to see exactly what it is.

4. Gazing at moments retrospectively is a fascinating idea - how did you decide upon the symbol of the firework and what does it symbolize for you?

The news that nearly 150,000 Hong Kong people have immigrated to the United Kingdom in two years after the BNO program (British National Overseas) Visa Initiative, was authorized by the United Kingdom, has made me think about where Hong Kongers belong and what my personal identity is. Reflecting on that, I realized that my life has been heavily influenced by British colonial culture, including some of my values and attitudes. However, as time passes, Hong Kong's system, culture and education are slowly connecting with China's development, and this change is an inevitable stage that can be predicted. At the same time, it is not easy to adapt to. Therefore, I considered using fireworks as a metaphor to create a visual impact that speaks of the tension between a beautiful moment and the anticipated changes of the firework. In Hong Kong, the National Day of fireworks symbolises the important post-colonial transition and the return to the motherland. My firework imagery is like a countdown of the "50 years of unchanged policy" after the handover. This is a beautiful sight for some people, but it is full of uncertainty for others. Just as fireworks are essentially gunpowder but processed and controlled to create a beautiful and bright-coloured pattern with loud noises.

5. You explore the emotional value of time within this body of work, the retrospective gaze of recorded firework displays, and the physical process of the woodcut printing process - can you expand upon the notion of time within 'A Fleeting Moment'?

The concept of time is crucial to this work. The main reason why I want to explore the emotional value of time is because of the sudden changes in Hong Kong's administrative policies in recent years, which made me feel its abruptness.

From reviewing recorded fireworks celebrations to producing prints and moving images, this allowed me to voice out the issue by manipulating, capturing, and recreating those critical moments within my work. When I look back at video footage of displays, I can control whether the film plays, pauses, or rewinds, which is directly manipulating and intervening in the time with the intention to visualise the explosions in greater detail and discover key moments possibly overlooked by the eyes the first time.

As for the woodcutting process, when I make the firework patterns, I carefully carve the lines and try to avoid making mistakes that might destroy the integrity of the image. The process of carving is like touching gunpowder. Therefore, making a woodcut requires both alertness and timing, allowing me to experience the danger of an explosion.

Finally, making moving images by rearranging and editing the prints allowed me to understand the fireworks' deterrent and value from my perspective. It made me rethink the changes in the city and my own identity.

Arrow Lai Siu-Wai

JOE RICHARDS 31/07/2023 JOE RICHARDS 31/07/2023

27. CHANG XU - A SPACE BETWEEN BOREDOM AND DRAWING WITH CLOSED EYES.

Emergent artist Chang Xu discusses her creative process.

*CHANG XU - Film still courtesy of the artist.*

1. At what stage within your creative process do you start to draw?

I create art while experiencing boredom. I create illustrations, animations, or write some text to record my emotions at that moment. Then, I integrate them, find some connections, and search for the final content of the film.

My films start with broad ideas that I am interested in or have some insight into, and then narrow down to the topics that I really want. In fact, the initial direction of the film is about the rules that trap people, and then gradually narrows down to the concept of boredom. I keep a notebook where I record all the sudden inspirations or ideas I have in my daily life. Sometimes, I also use it to discover potential topics I can try to work on.

2. Your personal perspective on the state of boredom is fascinating, can you expand upon how you use this idea within your practice?

I conducted some personal experiments on boredom. I made a list of 18 situations that made me feel bored and deliberately spent more time experiencing each of them. Then, I selected the three most impressive situations, which were: listening to people speak in a language I couldn't understand, watching the clock ticking away, and lying in bed unable to fall asleep. Afterward, I focused on these three situations, recording emotions, visuals, and thoughts, and eventually used them as inspiration for my creative work.

3. The use of hand drawing seems central to your practice, the work is very gentle and also feels very mysterious, can you expand upon this?

Actually, this is my first attempt at hand drawing, and at the beginning, I was quite uneasy. However, during the process of experiencing boredom, I gradually let go of my anxiety. I followed my own thoughts and freely created the picture. I think the softness and mystery felt by the audience is actually the emotion I perceive during moments of boredom - very comfortable and relaxing. Sometimes, I feel like I've turned into a puddle of water and other times, I feel like there's a vast fog ahead. I can vaguely see something, but it's not clear, and I can't touch it either.

4. You describe your films as 'animated documentaries' and the themes seem to focus on mental health, do you feel this is an area you want to document and what have you learned from making these works?

In today's society, everything moves at a rapid pace, and people have too many things they can do, even during leisure time, with numerous options available. All these activities fill up our minds. Although we have sleep to provide our brains with physiological rest, I believe emotions also need rest and blankness. We need time to think of nothing and do nothing, and boredom happens to offer that time. Therefore, going through the experience of boredom is, in fact, a process of healing for me. I've become better at relaxing and paying more attention to my thoughts and emotions. It has allowed me to adjust my mental state more effectively. My emotions are now more manageable than before, and I have learned to find happiness in the little things in life. This is also the reason why I chose this theme. I hope more people can find their own ‘flow of thoughts' through this approach.

5. Your practice is incredibly instinctive, please can you explain how you respond to your instincts within your work?

As mentioned above, I mentioned that it was my first attempt at hand drawing, so at the beginning, I was a bit lost and didn't know where to start. I had some difficulty distinguishing whether I was drawing from my intuition or if it was something I had seen in my subconscious. During that time, I used materials and some constraints to help me tap into my intuition. For example, I let watercolors flow freely on plastic film because it was uncontrollable. I watched the pigments flow and merge naturally, forming a spontaneous painting, and gradually, I began to grasp some sensations. I also imposed certain limitations on myself, such as drawing with my eyes closed, not breathing, and blocking out any external sounds. Through these exercises, I slowly connected with my intuition, and after that, I was able to continue creating more smoothly.

CHANG XU

JOE RICHARDS 24/07/2023 JOE RICHARDS 24/07/2023

26. YING ZHENG - A SPACE BETWEEN CONTROL AND THE UNCONTROLLABLE.

Emergent artist Ying Zheng describes the creative process behind her degree show titled: ‘Purity of true feelings’. - LONDON.

*‘Purity of true feelings’ - Image courtesy of the artist.*

1. 'Purity of true feelings' is a fascinating body of work resulting in pieces that seem to be charged with emotion, please can you describe the story behind these sculptures?

My practice has always explored topics like social alienation, consumerism, and the human experience. I hope my art helps people reclaim their humanity and uniqueness in an increasingly commercialized society. I have made works related to romantic relationships, such as my work LUST FOOD.

During this year at The Royal College of Art, I wanted to continue my previous direction of creative content but focus more on the exploration of human nature. I chose to record the emotional fluctuations and sincere feelings in romantic relationships as a starting point for my work.

I want to express the concept of "emotional fossil". I recorded and preserved precious and innocent feelings in romantic relationships through the medium of ceramic sculpture. Because this is the precious and pure thing in human nature. The main body of my sculpture symbolizes our bodies, which carry our unspeakable feelings. Emotions that flow internally - squeezed out like a mobile body through a porous structure and rush to the surface.
None of my sculptures have specific names because of the uniqueness of the individual's experience and feeling of colours and shapes. I want the viewer's experience of my work to be interactive and emotionally resonant. I hope (the audience) will be able to define for themselves what each sculpture means to them.

2. The properties of ceramic and glass are very specific and yet within your work they meld in a very personal way - what were the moments of discovery within the making of these works?

The glazes in ceramics, a continuous vitreous layer attached to the ceramic body, are a mixture of vitreous and crystalline. So the glass is also part of the ceramic. The main body of my work is clay with Gloop glaze.

I chose this glaze as the main body of my work because when I first came across it, I was attracted and impressed by its plasticity, versatility, and strong visual impact. I see this glaze as a powerful visual language as if its fluid relationships and that nature of surprise and uncertainty were speaking for the artistic ideas I was expressing. And the process of exploring gloop glaze is a wonderful experience. Each time I open the kiln, it has both predictable and unpredictable effects. The theme of my work is more in favor of the presentation of emotions. Emotion is a spontaneous, variable, uncertain, controlled but uncontrollable feeling, which makes me even more certain that gloop glaze can play its unique role as the main medium of my work.

3. You mention within the notes, which accompany your sculptures, that 'the superego' was key within the creative process - can you expand upon this?

The word "superego" comes from Sigmund Freud's theory. Freud's theory also inspires me in my artistic content creation. In his theory, he mentioned the three parts of self-consciousness, the ego, the self, and the superego (Id, Ego, and Superego). All human mental activities can get a reasonable explanation from the connection between them. The superego is the controller in the structure of personality and is governed by the perfect personality. By referring to this term, I want to show the source from which conflicts and contradictions between different individuals may arise in human romantic relationships.

The sculptural forms and porous structures in my works symbolize the individual's 'body', the container of the mind. They contain the 'superego', the moral and social norms. This precious innocence is also filtered and supervised by the 'superego' and exists in a stable and lasting form. The glaze flows like a liquid between the pore structures, symbolizing the conflict and emotional flow within the 'superego', as if every pore is capable of overflowing with intense emotions.

I want the work to present the complexity of the inner world and psychological processes of the individual by exploring the innocence of feelings and emotional changes in romantic relationships, as well as the Freudian notion of the 'superego'.

4. Having previously lived and worked in radically different locations around the world, what has your time in the different places and London taught you?

Since my undergraduate studies, I have not had a permanent residence and I have often traveled in new cities. The different countries and cities I've lived in have made a special impression on me.

For example, big and small cities in China, Gothenburg in Sweden, and then London. Being in China is a comfort zone for me because the culture and language are close to me and where I grew up. It taught me to be hardworking because of the large population and competition.

Sweden brings me a sincere and introspective feeling, and what impresses me most is their Lagom culture: not too much, not too little, the right amount. living and studying here is less stressful and easier, and people don't have a strong desire to chase fame and fortune, so I have time to enjoy life and think about the meaning of life.

In London, I am amazed at the diversity of society and how inclusive it is to individuals, and I don't feel like a foreigner when I live here. However, as the world's economic, cultural, and trade center, the fast pace of life in London can be stressful. However, under pressure, there are also a lot of opportunities. It has taught me to understand the uniqueness of individuals and to feel confident in my differences.

5. Do you have a mentor, or key teacher who has guided you and if so what have you learned from them?

My mentor is Annie Cattrell, who is also a glass and multi-media artist and researcher. She does not primarily work with ceramics, but I have received a lot of useful guidance and encouragement from her throughout the transformation of my work, especially in terms of the formal expression and artistic content of the work, and I am very grateful to her for her help. Of course, I was also fortunate enough to have single tutorials with other mentors, such as Felicity Aylieff's remote tutorial, which also helped me to confirm my direction. The final project Purity of true feelings is a new direction for me in the use of materials, which is a big contrast to my previous works. Previously, I was more focused on realistic sculptures and installations. I remember fondly that during a short study trip with Annie, she took our group to Hayward Gallery to see 'The Strange Clay - Ceramics in Contemporary Art' exhibition. The works in the exhibition included my favorite ceramic artist, Takuro Kuwata, and I was blown away by the possibilities of ceramics, a traditional material. This experience was a turning point in the transformation of my work.

*Image courtesy of the artist.*
Ying Zheng

JOE RICHARDS 18/07/2023 JOE RICHARDS 18/07/2023

25. ANSELM KIEFER - A SPACE BETWEEN EXORCISM AND PRAYER.

Anselm Kiefer - Finnegans Wake, White Cube - LONDON.

Piled, rusted supermarket trollies - as if resurrected from the depths of rivers, where their weighted surrender was executed through nocturnal intoxication - are now repositioned in Kiefers' sober no-mans-land of reawakening. Where bouquets of pettleless sunflowers sprout, their seedheads drowned in charcoal paint, their monitoring faces desperately looking in every direction with every gasping breath.

An abandoned multi-wheel-chair demands attention, a crumpled chariot extraordinarily views as if still in motion - and yet, as with everything in Anselms' world - is paused - or somehow in the slow motion of changing states, so slow its kinetic shift is undetectable through human eyes - but atmospherically sensed.

A library of leaden books, open and abandoned on a concrete floor - their poisonous contents oxidised to methyl orange, toxic tarnished leaves blackened with mold.

Uncoiled rusted barbed wire sprawls across a floor amassed with rubble, not from a fallen ceiling but installed and recreated as if confiscated - awaiting further analysis - a violation dismantled, an overwhelming tension disseminated.

Naked bulbs drip tentatively - like glistening pearls of sweat - exhausted with adrenaline.

Into the corridors of the Kiefers' subconscious, to stare in fascination at countless vitrines whose contents are poetic metaphors and physical feelings preserved - with the clagging paints, plaster, and vandyke washes - dry in translucent layers.

Each artifact bares the artist's soul and touch - categorised with charcoal scribbled annotation - precisely stretching with lucid handwritten conviction.

The shelves of this lost-and-found depot, store the codes of Anselm Kiefer's idiom - the sheaves of a summer's field, the chipped maquettes of the artist's corrugated architectural towers, the dried ferns and flowers, and seed heads - poised and tentative. The empty nests, rusted mechanisms and broken statues, feather-tipped scales, paper white shirts, and a mass of dented buckets - midas gold - glimmering in the shadows.

The synaptic sparks of one man's mind seem to charge each item with a humm of concentration - where persistent unrelenting recalls meet discordant unravellings.

All these moments caught in time and place, like trapped butterflies - still flickering with life - tender memories, nostalgic, pensive and painful, hysterical and vulnerable, squirreled away in the depths of a mind to be extracted to the surface like an exorcism or a prayer.

*Image: Arnan Wang for M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) 2023.*

*Image: Anselm Kiefer - courtesy of White Cube 2023.*

Anselm Kiefer - Finnegans Wake - Until 20 August 2023 - White Cube - London. Special Thanks: Arnan Wang, Tom Gu, and Isabelle Cook at White Cube.

JOE RICHARDS 04/07/2023 JOE RICHARDS 04/07/2023

24. CARRIE MAE WEEMS - A SPACE BETWEEN VIOLENCE AND COMPASSION.

Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now - Barbican - LONDON.

*Carrie Mae Weems - Painting the Town #3, 2021 © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York / Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin.*

'It has to come through a space of compassion otherwise it is just anger.' Carrie Mae Weems.

Carrie Mae Weems's decisiveness is her strength, her response to her instincts, her power - pouring the water herself at a press conference, she waits for the microphone to work before responding to loaded questions with dignity and intelligence, consistent within a retrospective of works which are presented like a concentrated harvest. A harvest of some four decades - and it is divine to behold. Both in it's humility, it's humanity, and the sheer breadth of the artist's emotional range.

A series of paintings begin the exhibition, abstract expressionist in style, but in fact, these are documentary photographs, not paintings - 'made in the wake of demonstrations in the artist's birth town of Portland, Oregon, following the murder of George Floyd by police in May 2020. Over several months of protests, boarded-up storefronts were repeatedly painted over to erase demonstrators' messages. Within the work, the artist questions the visual language of abstraction and representation - reviewing and reminding us that Black artists have often been painted out of art history - including Norman Lewis who was an active contributor to the abstract expressionist movement since its inception. Abstraction emerges directly from a protest as a form of expression.

The rhythm of the exhibition undulates, from one room to the next and out into an in-between-space where swathes of blue velvet and white muslin house projected film works - a combination of circus tent and heavenly calm - overheard music escapes from these inter-woven curtained enclosures - layered in the air like the synaptic snaps from within artist's mind. Cross-referencing genres, soundtracks, and sound bites form a sensory collage - poised and swept up.

The film 'The Shape of Things: A Video in 7 Parts, 2021' a visual collage of extremes - devastatingly honest as Weems describes the unrelenting fear of violence from police brutality: 'Imagine the worst of the worst... and know that it is always happening', to the sublime beauty of five figures drenched in a storm including choreographer Okwui Okpokwasili who becomes enveloped by the night in a flurry of falling snow.

The artist's meditative approach to creation begins daily with music, 'music is the most important thing - everything rests on the melody', with a series of songs that remind her of her purpose. Listing Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Bob Marley, and Aretha Franklin - who she discusses in detail as 'The master standard’. Her technique of improvisation and reinvention of a media, 'taking it and breaking it', discussing the extraordinary fluidity of Franklin's vocal soaring agility to explore and propel music with an ability to define any song she sings as her own.

Carrie Mae Weems - Untitled (Woman and Daughter with Make Up) from Kitchen Table Series, 1990 © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York / Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin.

Weems' own instincts of taking and breaking are certainly in evidence within 'Reflections for Now', using her own body as the medium for exploration and exhibition.'I use myself in part because I am available, a source, a surface - framing myself as muse, witness, arbitor, and observer'.

In the iconic 'Kitchen Table Series' Weems occasionally makes direct eye contact with the viewer, the life-size portraits and open table invite the audience's gaze and allow us to observe a woman in a private domestic space which now becomes a stage set with acts which both confront and remind that life is a volatile work all of its own. Like Franklin's emotive control which invites us to reflect, so too does Weems hold up a mirror. 'I use my own constructed image as a vehicle for questioning ideas about the role of tradition, the nature of family, monogamy, polygamy, relationships between men and women, between women and their children, and between women and other women - underscoring the critical problems and the possible resolves. In one way or another, my work endlessly explodes the limits of tradition. I'm determined to find new models to live by.'

In 'Holocaust Memorial', The artist moves with purpose between the pillars of Peter Eisenmann's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, completed in Berlin in 2005. In the projected film, Weems glides in dignified choreographed strides, arms bow - hands clap twice - hands reach up - and then returning - as if there are many figures with each repeating rhythm, an outpouring, a release, and return. 'Weems has spoken of an affinity between Black and Jewish communities, stating,'I think there is a shared sense of struggling in the country, and that, I think, forms an incredible bond between these two apparently very different groups of people'.

There are traces of violence with repeating force within this exhibition, from the causes and origins to the effects and legacies. The presentation is startling also for its dignity, tenderness, and overriding atmosphere of contemplation - creating a poised environment of reflective stillness - Weems herself asks 'No one has written about the violence in my work'.

Asking her mother what is grace, she answered: when one falls down, you reach back and help... what an offering - of love and forgiveness - the words are embedded in the work'.

*Carrie Mae Weems, The Edge of Time — Ancient Rome from Roaming, 2006 © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York / Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin.*

Carrie Mae Weems Reflections for Now Barbican London,
22 June – 3 September 2023.

Special thanks: Georgia Holmes.

JOE RICHARDS 18/06/2023 JOE RICHARDS 18/06/2023

23. ELIZABETH PEYTON - A SPACE BETWEEN SUSPENSION AND FALLING.

Elizabeth Peyton: Angel - David Zwirner - LONDON.

**Elizabeth Peyton - Elvis Angel (Elvis' Eyes), 2023 - Oil on linen board - 9 x 12 inches - 22.9 x 30.5 cm - © Elizabeth PeytonCourtesy the artist and David Zwirner.**

Staring out from David Zwirner's Grafton Street gallery, a few dozen - forever young eyes - look on from their painted canvases - whose white primer drips down like birthday icing on cakes still warm from an oven, not cold in a box.

Paintings intimately small as if cut from much larger pictures - Elizabeth Peyton's Angels focus in and fixate - with the specific abandon of adolescence.

The artist's perpetual focus for a time in suspension feels palpably strong within this tender show. Her lost boys span history and geography with the bittersweet ease of youth and the foreboding of imminent change - A time-state like a spell, that stays with some for a moment, for others a lifetime.

An expression observed in Mai Omai's sideways glance, in a teenage Elvis - lost in thought and in the amethyst eyes of a stranger looking away - an eyeline we will never catch. And it is within this specific pain of the unrequited - which fill her works to a meniscus brink - inky and bright with the light of a storm.

This atmosphere of transition is felt in the dappled pointillist brushstrokes of the American artists' impressionism. The experimental outdoor scenes of the C19th French Société Anonyme des Artistes, whose ambition to capture the changing light En plein air, so too does Peyton capture the fleeting - in her daubs of colour - like the ephemeral makeup markings on the back of a hand in a pharmacy aisle or the marker-pen scribblings on a stationer's pad. Her pictures often bear such tests in their corners, a metaphorical reminder, perhaps, that we are all a work in progress.

**Elizabeth Peyton** - Angel - David Zwirner 24 Grafton Street, London. Until 28 June, 2023.
Special Thanks: Sara Chan.

Image photograph: Arnan Wang.

JOE RICHARDS 11/06/2023 JOE RICHARDS 11/06/2023

22. PAUL GAUGUIN - A SPACE BETWEEN CONSCIOUSNESS AND SUBCONSCIOUSNESS.

After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art, The National Gallery - LONDON.

THE colourist of the Symbolist movement Paul Gauguin forever and immediately recognised for his idiosyncratic palettes of sorrow. Colour combinations so precise that you can almost taste them and certainly feel them - the colours of heartache, painted over and over again. And just as in Edgar Allen Poe's poem, The Raven; which concludes most of it’s 18 stanzas with 'Nevermore'- The French artist and American poet share a relentless search within their mysterious works - but what was Gauguin searching for and did he ever find it?

Gauguin lived a life of such turbulence and restlessness that many clues in his biography pose more open-ended questions than answers. From a boyhood spent between France and Peru to joining the French Merchant Navy and then back to Paris to become a financial broker. A bourgeois family life followed when he lived with his five children and wife in the well-heeled 9th arrondissement. Gauguin was a collector of art before he started painting, amassing an avant-guard collection of impressionist works, many of which were painted by Paul Cézanne, whose holistically escapist Aix-en-Provance based lifestyle, must have inspired Gauguin to dream of a world not ruled by stocks and shares, rather by nature and the sensual shift of the seasons.

Pahura rests her head on a pillow the shade of Oenothera biennis - or evening primrose, which glows in a bedroom the atmospheric hue of the gloaming. Skin too hot to be covered or touched, toes outstretched, searching for cool - in air humid and still - feet which long for the damp of midnight grasses in a cold garden.

Behind the bed, Gauguin's brushstrokes are bolder, a stage set scenery created to be viewed from afar - tertiary-hued open flowers and fungi undulate with discordant rhythms, melding with the overheard conversations and tapping of Poe's stately raven, a space between the conscious and subconscious. A scene whose players are abstracted, heard but not seen, bar Pahura, whose in focus gaze diagonally rests on a space she alone can see, and we can only imagine, a space of unrest. 'Nevermore'- the title itself is caught in time, not the ticking hours of a clock, more the beating of a heart.

The painting's gilded frame further adds to a sense of manipulation and misinterpretation within the work, Gauguin's Tahitian paintings were mainly unvalidated in his lifetime, and so the elaborate golden frieze of resplendent abundance feels at odds with the artist's impoverished state while creating the work. His own relationships with his subjects and colonised Tahiti are also fraught with contradictions and controversies.

***Paul Gauguin (1848–1903)*** Nevermore, 1897
Oil on canvas, 60.5 × 116 cm The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust).

After Impressionism: Inventing Art - Until 13 August 2023.

The National Gallery Trafalgar Square, London.

Thank you: Neil Evans and Alexandra at The National Gallery.

JOE RICHARDS 04/06/2023 JOE RICHARDS 04/06/2023

21. GREGOR SAILER - A SPACE BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS.

Gregor Sailer: The Polar Silk Road - The Natural History Museum - LONDON.

*Gregor Sailer, EastGRIP, Northeast Greenland Ice Sheet, Ice Core Project, 2019*

Listening to The Austrian artist Gregor Sailer speak, is how I imagine, it must have been for The Victorians, who gathered in The Natural History Museum to listen to Adventurers recounting their experiences of discoveries - discussing their evidence to aghast audiences.

There is something romantic about the idea of the lonesome artist who risks his life in the pursuit of documenting uncharted territories, humanless landscapes, exotic and unknown - and then you realise that this work is not an impression, that the chilling reality is that Gregor Sailer is, in fact, an artist reflecting the Now - who dares to speak a truth which is difficult to confront, both for himself and for us. 'My job, as a photographer is to expose... I never wanted to realise a project about climate change, but soon of course, recognised that global warming is the main motor for all these developments around the north pole...I want to cause a discussion, which is going more into the depth of the topic'.

67 exhibited photographs testify to this purpose, evidencing the manmade structures located across four countries in the Arctic Circle. From isolated research centers to Icelandic geothermal power stations - Sailer documents the changes taking place across the Arctic as people increasingly build on and exploit it.

The photographer battled on a physical and emotional journey to record the images - working alone in down to minus 55-degree temperatures and waiting at times for hours to capture each frozen moment, often in volatile weather conditions.'I don't have endless materials with me, and on the other hand, it increases my perception, my consciousness.'

The exhibition, presented in mesh-cased igloos is lit with the industrial-style lighting seen in Sailer's scientific photographs.

Sailer's use of light is extraordinary, photographing at times in moonlight, the artist's favorite, which provides his portraits with a luminosity that feels solarised. The surreal nature of the land-scape-focused exhibition creates an overarching sense of calm foreboding. 'I am interested in the light of the storm - not the storm'.

Sailer exposes stark photographic evidence that as climate change accelerates, opportunistic political collectives are quick to negotiate new trade routes taking advantage of the changing landscape and providing access to new raw material deposits of natural oil and gas.

The exhibition's title; 'The Polar Silk Road', makes references to the ancient trade networks dated to the second century B.C. which link China, and the Far East with countries in Europe and The Middle East.

'On the one hand, I'm fascinated by these landscapes, I'm very impressed and have lots of respect and, on the other hand, I'm scared because I see what is going on there and what is happening there'. Gregor Sailer.

*Gregor Sailer, Port of Kirkees, Barents Sea, Finnmark, Norway, 2021.*

Gregor Sailer The Polar Silk Road The Natural History Museum - Until 24 November 2023.

Thank you: Harriet Potter, The Natural History Museum. References: Natural History Museum.

Special Thanks: Xiangyin Tom Gu for the recommendation + research.

JOE RICHARDS 29/05/2023 JOE RICHARDS 29/05/2023

20. ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE - A SPACE BETWEEN SPONTANEITY AND CONTROL.

A portrait of Lisa Lyon by Robert Mapplethorpe - Phillips auction house - LONDON.

*Lot 134, Robert Mapplethorpe, Lisa Lyon 1982. Gelatin silver print, mounted. Signed, dated and numbered 1/10. - Phillips, London.*

There is something distinctly fascinating about an auction room, the amassed collection of objects belonging to a previous owner, objects from a life - which once were positioned in a space that was specifically private, and now exposed on a white wall to the general public with a brief description identifying its provenance, held in limbo until a new owner is secured by acquisition.

The late Sam Wagstaff, who died in 1987, the discerning curator of modern art and visionary collector of photography and American silver would surely have been at this sale. The elegant and discreet collector known for his innate instinct for the rare and undiscovered - a visual hunter who would source his art with the completest desire of an addict. His drug of choice may have been image, but the anticipation in the search surely inspired his quest. Piecing his collection of imagery together with a jeweler's eye, Wagstaff would present his discoveries to his partner and protègè Robert Mapplethorpe, a paring that inspired creative exploration aligned to the exacting influences of masterpiece imagery sourced from auction rooms, private sales, and flea markets.

The influence of this collection of works which was acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum before his death is dazzling - a self-portrait of someone who sought light in the black and white stills created by others, cross-referencing a dual combination of opposites in the beautifully humble monograph of the jewels in his collection 'A Book of Photographs' published in 1978.

In his foreword to Mapplethorpe's book 'Lady', which includes the many portraits of Lisa Lyon, he writes:'With a new, self-made woman available for all seasons, the shy pornographer has decided to take a series of carom shots off her revised feminity'. This revised femininity presents many alter egos of womanhood, as Bruce Chatwin writes; 'In session after session, Lisa posed as bride, broad, doll, moll, playgirl, beach-girl, bike girl, gym-girl; as frog person, mud-person, flamenco dancer, spiritual medium, archetypal huntress, circus artiste, snake-woman, society woman, young Christian, and kink'.

The portrait of Lisa Lyon by Robert Mapplethorpe was presented in Phillips auction house as part of 'A Private London Collection Like No Other' in May 2023, and immediately stands out as a key example of the artist's unorthodox and iconoclastic style.

The triptych of light panels frames the silhouette of performance artist Lisa Lyon, or so we presume, her veiled appearance concealed from our gaze and yet allowing for her own. That trio of panes neatly frames with religious calm, an ephemeral altarpiece created by the sun - stark and symbolic and devoid of distracting decoration. The silhouetted shadow of this sun Madonna stands to the right, leaving the left frame empty.

Robert Mapplethorpe was known for his love of the night, the nocturnal hours he worked, observed, and documented, leaving the rolls of film for his assistants to print in the morning - a relay routine on repeat. The stark control of his favored electrical light, rarely photographing in sunlight or depicting a portrait sitter twice - and so the folio of Lisa Lyon is a prime example of a new approach, where a relationship of dozens of images of a singular sitter is presented, in differing locations and using natural light.

Lyon veiled is one of the standout pictures from the series and is an important moment as it further pushes the photographer's portraiture to its abstracted best, the composition is pure architecture, mirrored minimalism - and yet immediately communicates that specific Mapplethorpe atmosphere - immediate sexual tension and sophisticated charged simplicity. For an artist known for his extreme sense of control within image and life, the cast shadow in the image is intriguing, reading like a sundial, we are able to identify that the image was taken at a specific time in the late afternoon, the sun is low in the sky, creating the long, intense shadows to fall with intensity. The silhouetted window frames, free from curtains or blinds expose the clean lines of the industrial, and so suggest a warehouse or loft like the Tony Smith-designed high-rise apartments of Mapplethorpe's partner Sam Wagstaff.

A newly unfolded piece of satin cloth chosen as a veil still rippled with the fine creasing of its dormancy, immediately reminds me of sand dunes embossed with similar rhythmic ripples. The fiber of this veil is hard to decipher, its silken appearance feels habotai luxurious, and yet the creases suggest the cloth being recently unwrapped or unrolled from a tightly wound poll feels specifically synthetic, like a cupro lining used for traditionally masculine tailored garments. In the full published portfolio of images, which this image derives, its twin depicts Lyon in near exact pose, her semi-opaque veiled appearance, however sunlight bright georgette sheer. Arms held out, parallel to her body like a classical dancer, her wrists held out as if suspended by strings. A puppet awaiting manipulation from her master.

Phillips

JOE RICHARDS 20/05/2023 JOE RICHARDS 20/05/2023

OFIR BERMAN - A SPACE BETWEEN WHAT HAS BEEN AND WHAT IS YET TO COME.

In conversation with the Israel based photographer Ofir Berman.

*‘Adi, playing with her friend and covering herself in the sand’. Ofir Berman*

When I look at your work I notice that you return to a feeling of domesticity and of people going about their lives, why are you interested in documenting 'the everyday'?

I believe that the everyday moments of people can reveal profound insights about a society, its culture, and its values. These seemingly ordinary moments often hold hidden narratives, emotions, and stories that can be overlooked or taken for granted. I mean, It can't be more real and authentic than that.

Many of your published images focus on anticipation - whether individual or collective there is a real sense of the impending - why are you drawn to that specific state? 

The state of anticipation holds a special fascination because that is where all emotions, possibilities, and narratives converge. Anticipation is a state of transition, a threshold between what has been and what is yet to come. It carries a sense of curiosity or even tension because when looking at a picture there is no way of really knowing what is about to happen or how the story will end, but one can imagine.

*‘A Palestinian woman walking through a checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem’. Ofir Berman.*

Your style of image varies but there is a specific feeling of calm which is very pronounced visually within your work as a whole - why are you drawn to an atmosphere of stillness?

In recent years I started shooting with a medium format analog camera, which also dictates the way I photograph. For me, using a medium format film camera involves a more deliberate and calculated process, as it requires careful observation of the scene before capturing the image. It gives me the opportunity to fully immerse myself in the scene, noticing intricate details and capturing the essence of the moment. I feel that there is an intriguing contrast between the calmness and tranquility that the photos project, compared to the chaotic nature of modern life. Finding moments of silence, observation, and intimacy are precious or as the saying goes: STILL waters run deep - a bit like me.

The community is a central narrative within your imagery, why do you feel you are drawn back to documenting groups of people?

I believe that our identities and experiences are intertwined with the communities we belong to. Communities shape our values, traditions, and social interactions, and they play a significant role in shaping who we are as individuals.

As you can see in my work, I tend to photograph minorities, ethnic communities, and marginalized individuals or groups, with the intention of using this unique platform that I have as a photographer, to highlight social issues, support change and contribute to a more inclusive and equal society.

You have become a consistent voice from Israel with your work - how do you feel about this and do you feel a responsibility to communicate specific narratives?

When it comes to my work for media and newspapers, as a photographer, I don't always have control over the specific story that are being covered. This can be sometimes challenging when it comes to expressing my own creative vision.

Israel is both a complicated and controversial country, and being born and raised here has given me a deep understanding, or better say knowledge of the complexities and nuances of this place where I live. The responsibility I feel as a photographer stems from this knowledge and connection to the country and its people.

I have access to information and experiences that others do not have, and this drives me to approach my work, especially my personal one, with a sense of integrity, striving to create stories that convey reality in a more humane, equal, and compassionate way.

*‘Women enjoying the last few hours before sunset at the beach. Ofir Berman*
**Ofir Berman**
Ofir Berman is a contributing artist to issue two of M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) Magazine - available now: shop

JOE RICHARDS 14/05/2023 JOE RICHARDS 14/05/2023

JAN MELKA - A SPACE BETWEEN SHAPE AND SYMBOL.

The Paris-based artist discusses her evolving point of view.

*4/10 (glass series) - 120 x 80cm - acrylic on plexiglass, 2022.*

Your focus on the human body is fascinating - can you explain why you return to this reference?

I see the canvas as a blank, shadowy space in which I can project and get rid of any interior feelings I have. It’s easier for me to humanize those feelings on the canvas. The structure of bodies has become more and more abstract in my recent pieces. I became bored by the roundness and felt like deconstructing the shapes. The idea of repetition is still very present, but the movement floats in a new way. I still see human shapes twisting around themselves, but when I take a step back the only body I see is mine.

*2/10 (glass series) - 120 x 80cm - acrylic on plexiglass, 2022.*

The structure of a house is another reference within your work that you return to - why is this?

I actually see my houses as bodies, interior bodies. When lockdown began in March 2020, during the first weeks of captivity and global horror, I was in the middle of a break-up and a new, secret love affair. The first house was a reaction to how torn up I felt. It was a safe place of protection where I could read my heart and live inside my paintings for the first time.

In fact, the first house was made out of canvases. I literally put together 6 cardboard paintings that were meant to be on the wall. I wanted the paintings to have a role in the space and not just serve as decor.
Then I fell in love with the shape and symbol and began to make more serious houses. They became an obsession and a way of testing materials and colors made with the urge to create in a state of emergency as a kind of shield.

*‘Refuge House’ - mixed media, 100 x 120 x 180cm - by Jan Melka and Joseph Melka.*

The relationship that you have with your family is very important to you - Your American mother and your French father - how do you feel these different cultures have shaped you?

Having a foreign parent gave me insight for sure. I grew up seeing my mother being treated like a tourist in Paris, an outsider, even though her American-accented French is fine. My father is French, but he had his own issues because he was born in Algeria. His family didn’t move to Paris until he was seven years old. My parents never put any weight on us, but we could still feel questions of identity. It's in our blood and lifestyle. My parents have a special way of seeing the world and they made sure I was aware of my own. I grew up in a very creative little nest and was taught to welcome feelings, to cherish them and speak and create with them.
My brother and I are in love with our parents. They are our favorite people in the world, and we feel so lucky.

I know you love Mexico - can you explain your relationship with this country and why it is important to you?

I first visited Mexico in 2017 for a painting job and didn’t think much of it before I arrived.
Mexico City was a major cultural love shock for me. Above all I appreciated the feeling of surprise. I began large scale painting for the fist time there with no reference to what I had done previously. I became passionate about Mexican culture and pre-Columbian civilizations. This was the first time I felt connected to an energy coming from a particular place. Later on, I found out that my father experienced a similar awakening there when he was about my age. You can see the influence in his art and I probably felt this familiarity there. So Mexico has become a second home. I return each year to paint.

Please can you tell us about the work you are currently undertaking?

Right now I'm focusing on two series of paintings: One is more abstract, I just binge on any movements I can do with my own body. The intention is to explore this bigger persona I have become. It’s less detailed, more like a series of human-sized gestures on canvas.

The other series is more psychological. I use warmer and deeper tones in charcoal and oil. My engagement here is more mental than physical. I’m painting mostly on the floor without a frame and I use a lighter fabric. I like to show these on windows, floating on walls, or in the middle of a space. Transparence and light are important here because they transmit a feeling of life.

These series communicate with each other despite their differences. They respond to each other and I feel very comfortable working on both simultaneously.

*Jan Melka photographed by Gemma Janes, Paris.*
**Jan Melka**
*Jan Melka will present new work at Colobo’s - 50 Rue Chapon 75003 Paris - 22 June 2023.*

JOE RICHARDS 07/05/2023 JOE RICHARDS 07/05/2023

MAGDALENA ABAKANOWICZ - A SPACE BETWEEN EXORCISM AND EXPOSITION.

Every Tangle of Thread and Rope - Tate Modern - LONDON. Photographed by Xiaohui Wu

*Image by Xiaohui Wu for M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) 2023.*

The tapestry freed from its historic place - off the wall - suspended and allowed to breathe - like a sculpture.

Instalations hang like gothic cathedrals - mummified - discovered awaiting the next life. Once flapping now dormant - asleep - their giant wings shrouded in gravity - the fibrous strands of their being still sensitive to sensation.

A split - a slash in the seams where a giant needle missed - to meet two lips - spill the contents of an outpouring of jute - the noble rope - understood - its diagonal rhythm concealing the genetic secrets of this created species - fashioned from the very fibre of one woman.

Physical threads so thick - the irregular woven surface suggestive of the many hands of the fellowship of community construction - and yet the gargantuan scale and minimalist defiance in its sense of self and oneness -

Accompanying sheets of inky charcoal renderings - evidence happenings once volatile now still - indelible and urgent in pigment on paper.
Eye witness depictions made in a state of exorcism to communicate with a traumatised past - reawakened by the instinct of will.

Like a Shaman who communicates tangibly - A bust by an unknown artist from Papua New Guinea displayed in the shadows - a corpse of a semi-decomposed form - a terrifying face to ward off evil - this created object seems to contain the soul of the work. - Deteriorating and yet alive - not with a heart that beats but a rhythm of possession. - It’s Mohicans of tarnished feathers sweltered and oiled with time - the skin ravaged and exposed within it’s protective case - eyes permanently open - unblinking and ringed with lashes so thick as to brush - a being created from materials not of its birth but of its resurrection.

Black lungs - once pink now charred - the vessels and veins of precious life - wretched and exposed in an area only sensed before - behind a smooth skin - now removed - flayed and heaped.

A giant's garments hang by a thread - threatening to snap and engulf the viewer like a fly trap devouring it’s prey. The fearful shadowy interiors of these caves - create glistening imaginings of arachnid eggs awaiting mass hatch.

The suspended situations or 'Abakans' sometimes move slowly - kinetic - awaiting possible volatile unraveling - from silent suspension to a catalan of reverse creation.

Behind a corner - a centuries-old tree severed and bound in metal shackles - as if in an operation theatre - to splint in order to correct - or an alter to sacrifice. It’s metal bed reduced to the essential - the bark skin - dry and dead. - Like a mother - the tree reminds us of a body where life began - sacred and remaining - preserved and yet vandalised through control.

'We live in times which are extraordinary because of their various forms of aggression. Today new danger exists around us as if everyone were against everyone. Agora should become a symbol, a metaphor about the particular historical moment in which we need each other, in which we want to rely on each other more than ever.' Magdalena Abakanowicz.

**Magdalena Abakanowicz - 'Every Tangle of Thread and Rope',** Tate Modern - Until 21 May 2023.
*Thank you Jennifer MacNeill at Tate and Benjamin John Hall for the recommendation.*
Images: Xiaohui Wu

JOE RICHARDS 01/05/2023 JOE RICHARDS 01/05/2023

AI WEIWEI - A SPACE BETWEEN CONSTRUCTION AND DESTRUCTION.

'Making Sence' - The Design Museum - LONDON. Photographed by Zhonghua Sui.

*‘BUBBLE’ 2008 - With this sculpture Ai Weiwei wanted to test the limits of porcelain craftmanship, as this is the largest sphere it is possible to make in porcelain without cracking it in a kiln.* *Image: Zhonghua Sui for M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) 2023.*

Pushing through the gallery doors into a vast single room of organisation - like a depot of objects awaiting dispatch. The sense of temporary stillness is exhilarating - part factory, auction room, and part private storage facility - the brutal industrial lighting heightens the sense of a response on pause - pending reaction of a conveyor belt system from the world's factory - eerily without the uniformed army of workers - replaced with a curious public looking for answers but leaving with questions.

‘LEFT RIGHT STUDIO MATERIAL’, 2018. These fragments are the remains of Ai’s porcelain sculptures that were destroyed when his ‘Left Right’ studio in Bejing was demolished by the Chinese state in 2018. Image: Zhonghua Sui for M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) 2023.

A pamphlet in hand used as reference - walls free from text - with neat numbers deciphering each artifact - as if this is not, in fact, an exhibition - more an inventory. And the institutional tension of the presentation is fascinating... allowing an enormity of distance between the work and the context of their creation - which makes the evidence on show seem more shocking - what is not said speaks louder than what is - the implication - the implicit reads pure to eyes lazy with normalised distractions... Ai Weiwei is not interested in decoration - there is nowhere to hide here, and the exploration of works that exposes found items - which have been repurposed and represented is extraordinary - the remains of an archeological treasure trove all amassed from locations - in plain sight.

***‘UNTITLED (PORCELAIN BALLS)’, 2022 - Cannon balls made during the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE) from Xing ware.*** *Image: Zhonghua Sui for M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) 2023.*

On entering the space the viewer looks down upon the regimented right-angled arrangements of 5 installations - a visual sensation not unlike touching down or lifting off in an areoplane - gazing down at a view of the world only felt from a certain distance.

***‘SPOUTS’ 2015 - 250,000 porcelain spouts from teapots and wine ewers - crafted by hand from the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE).*** *Image: Zhonghua Sui for M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) 2023.*

***‘UNTITLED (LEGO INCIDENT)’, 2024. ‘Lego is a good metaphor for the speed and repetitiveness of much recent construction in China’.*** *Image: Zhonghua Sui for M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) 2023.*

'Fields' of elements or 'scattered fragments' are massed and organised with a precision that immediately communicates the human hand and yet are presented alone creating an overwhelming sense of the micro versus macro - the tip of the melting iceberg. Nothing green grows in these no man’s lands - instead a feast for the grey matter - a harvest of pensive retrospection atmospherically sustains conceptual appetites.

***‘STILL LIFE’ - 1993-2000 - Late stone age tools - including axe heads, chisels, knives and spinning wheels.*** *Image: Zhonghua Sui for M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) 2023.*

*Ai Weiwei - image: Rick Pushinsky 2022.*

Ai Weiwei - ‘Making Sence’ - The Design Museum - Until 30 July 2023.

Thank you: Jordenne Murray