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| National identity has never
been more hotly debated. The relationship between Britain,
its constituent elements and its people dominates both
the media and party politics.
North + South is an unprecedented collaborative
project that explores who we think we are and what, in
the twenty-first century, England stands for. Staged across
six unique exhibitions, in galleries at the northern and
southernmost ends of England, North + South features over
thirty artists, including fifteen newly commissioned works. |
| John Hansard Gallery visitors
can explore six artists’ work. Newly commissioned
artists include Jennifer Anyan, who examines
the eccentricities of English regional fashion through
multi-layered photographic works, museological displays
of objects and clothing, and informal observational images
and text. Is the English dress-sense inherently eccentric,
or do conformities and localised styles exist? |
Jennifer Anyan, Elaborate Hair on the 3A, 2007. © Copyright
the artist. |
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Jane Chavez-Dawson, English Breakfast,
2007. © Copyright the artist. |
7 Nights, 7 Bed
& Breakfasts, 7 Full English breakfasts by Jane
Chavez-Dawson is a playful film work examining
‘quintessential’ English B & Bs. Located
in towns and villages that assert their own English 'authenticity'
in different ways, the work asks whether the idea of Englishness
is imposd upon or can genuinely be part of an English
town.
Track and Place is
a mail art project co-ordinated by Matt Hearn
and Sarah Warden, comprising a rich archive of
accumulated artists’ correspondence from either
side of the perceived ‘north/south’ divide.
An initial letter was distributed, inviting artists to
participate in a process of forwarding letters and their
own, unspecificied, artistic contributions, back and forth
between North and South - akin to a game of 'postal ping-pong'.
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Other works include Samar Asamoah’s
Greenhouse, 2006, a normal garden greenhouse
intricately etched with Islamic symbols and patterning.
The work contrasts the desire to cultivate one’s
own piece of England – a ‘miniature Eden’
– with the geometry of the heavenly realm.
Susan Diab’s Oh I do like
to be beside the seaside!, 2006, shown in all six
venues, features the traditional English seaside song
of the title, sung in Arabic by the artist. For Diab,
whose parents are English and Syrian, the work reminds
us that identity is rarely monolithic or related to appearance
alone. |
© Copyright Matt Hearn and
Sarah Warden |
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Samar Asamoah, Greenhouse, 2006
(detail). © Copyright the artist. |
Susan Diab,
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!, 2006. ©
Copyright the artist. |
John Kippin’s
large-scale photographic works, Nationality,
Identity and Mythology, 2005, place
together images of English landscapes with overlying words,
examining how nationalism is frequently linked to ownership
or ‘rights’ over land and territory.
To accompany North + South, a selection
of rarely-seen films by Wilf Thust and
William Raban, exploring English multi-cultural
identity from the 1980’s to the present day, will
be shown in the Gallery Project Room. Films courtesy of
Lux. |
John Kippin, Identity, 2005. Courtesy
and copyright the artist. |
| A newly-published
catalogue will accompany North + South,
with texts by Peter Davidson and Billy
Bragg.
Participating galleries:
Sunderland: Northern
Gallery for Contemporary Art, Reg
Vardy Gallery and National
Glass Centre
Southampton: John Hansard Gallery, Southampton
City Art Gallery and Millais
Gallery |
North + South is
supported by Arts Council England |
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Curators
in Conversation
On Thursday 5 July, the
three Southampton curators (Stephen Foster,
John Hansard Gallery, Les Buckingham,
Millais Gallery and Tim Craven, Southampton
City Art Gallery) were filmed in
conversation
at Southampton City Art Gallery.
This is now available to view here and in
the Gallery Reading Room.
 Watch
with Windows Media Player
Instructions on viewing the video can be
found here
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