I Come in Pieces - Solo Show
Growing up in the harsh reality of South London has exposed me to the themes and realities most of us face to some degree and which are amplified and highly visible in robust urban spaces. Poverty and the individual struggle within the pre-designed systems not only do not support but actively suppress and disadvantage the individual’s humanity; those are the themes at the forefront of what I reflect on and what I engage with in my artistic practice.
The collection shown dealt with the subjects not usually raised around the dinner table or at casual social gatherings. The issues which occupy my mental space on a daily basis are the matters we all face but those we often push down and ignore at the expense of our own wellbeing and the welfare of those closest to us. The passing of time and the impermanence of our lives. Death and legacy. The struggles of the adolescents, the crime and the violence our kids are exposed to and ultimately involved with as a result of the context they are born into. Addiction and the need to fill the existential void with the escapism which breaks the minds in the long run. The fragility of our own mental state. The societal divisions and the innate fear of “the other”. Racism. Homophobia. Immigration. Hate speech. Classism. Sexism. The themes that are are so prevalent and present in our ongoing narratives and that we unconsciously inherit and perpetuate without examining what those concepts mean on the most human of levels.
My work is here to pose the questions and to challenge the assumptions. It aims to place the uncomfortable in the centre of the conversations we are having with ourselves and with each other in order for those to be examined and ultimately transformed for the benefit of all of us.
The finissage event was extremely well attended and featured work not exhibited before and a new work created specifically for the show. Several of the pieces on show have found new homes.