We are really looking forward to this issue as we tackle how your work has effected change! Art has long been used to voice opinions, act as a temperature gauge to the zeitgeist and as a method to rally and agitate. In these uncertain times it has never played such a vital role. How has your work tuned into the current angst, and has it got hearts pumping and discussions going?
Artist name: Stef Will
Title: 'Because Of'
Media: Digital print, ink, thread, keys
Description: ‘Because Of’ explores the censorship of doctors and scientists in our current world, where non-conforming opinions are suppressed ‘for the greater good’ of society. The phrase “because of” is often used as a reasoning when freedom of speech is curtailed in any such way. As a doctor, I have witnessed ridiculing, censorship and de-platforming of colleagues, which is a disturbing development we are currently seeing all over the globe.
Instagram: @StefWillArt
Artist name: Rae-Ann Gn
Title: Nothing's changed
Media: Video projection over posters
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-3o9i-zqiQ
Description: This piece was made in response to the number of protests which happened in 2019 across the globe-- from Hong Kong to Chile to Indonesia, represented here in posters based off of various propaganda posters from World War II onwards. Projected over these posters is a silent video compilation of incidents of police brutality that took place during the 2019 protests. When I presented this in a crit it was almost unbelievable how many people tried to deny any of this happening.
Instagram: @gnraeart
Artist name: Georgie Boyle
Title: Drowning in Denim
Media: Denim
Description: The fashion industry is having a major impact on the environment, making up 10% of humanity's carbon emissions. I created this installation to raise awareness of the environmental costs of the production of the common, everyday fabric denim. Jeans are one of the most common items of clothing and billions of pairs are sold annually but the environmental costs greatly outweigh however much you bought them for.
Instagram: @georgieboyleart
Artist name:Steve Hines
Title: Ununionised
Media: Digital image
Description: This image represents how I see the UK, what it has become and where its politics are heading. The Union Jack has been hi-jacked by the right wing groups and so this is, in one way, a logical redesign that better mirrors some of their extreme ideas. I digitally cut a standard union jack flag image and re-joined it - there has been no manipulation other than that, (apart from shortening one panel to fit the usual flag proportions.
Instagram: @stevehinesartist
Artist name: Fred Fabre
Title: Jaune
Media: Oil
Description: ‘Jaune ‘ is a painting of an imaginary Art riot with street artists. The first time I came across the colour yellow associated with massive pro-democracy protests was in 1986 while covering for NBC the People Power Revolution in the Philippines. In 2014 the colour was borrowed by the Honk Kong Umbrella Movement when protesters wore yellow ribbons. In 2018 ‘Gilet Jaunes’ protests have gripped France for four weeks.
Instagram: Drawlogia
Artist name: Kinnari Saraiya
Title: Victoria Terminus
Media: Sculpture; Chilli Powder
Description: ‘Victoria Terminus’ is the exact replica of the plinth where the sculpture of the Empress of India, Queen Victoria, stood. Plinths throughout history have glorified important people in power but when the same plinth is snatched of its royal person, it recontextualizes public monuments. The act of removal, the vacuum, acts as a space of active protest. One obstacle I had to face was the lack of knowledge demonstrated by the viewers; on the role of Queen Victoria in India.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kinnarisaraiya/
Artist name: Paul Matosic
Title: Virtual redundancy
Media: Installation/film
Description: Made for an international exhibition about climate change this piece endeavoured to avoid the trail of carbon footprints (across the Atlantic) that a would ensue if I travelled to make the work. It makes use of deconstructed new technology testifying to the wide spread distribution of both the technology and the vast amount of redundant equipment. I made an installation in the studio, filming the process at one frame per second and once edited sent the full 55 minute film to the venue where it was projected onto the floor, students at the venue extended the virtual image into the real world by adding additional items from deconstructed technology.
Instagram: matosicpaul
Artist name: Chris Marshall
Title: Storm. DeptfordX Festival . London 2019
Media: Installation. Car tyre particulate and powder. Ostrich feathers. Duvets.
Description: The installation/intervention was fabricated from car tyre particulate and powder, formed to focus attention and highlight the catastrophic consequences to our health of the continued use of the rubber tyre on our roads.
The tiny particulate is dispersed into the atmosphere from constant friction between tyre and road surface, it is a killer and must be exposed.
The particulate is manipulated and wrapped around duvets to form industrialised, threatening and creature like sculptural bodies, and placed to occupy a dusty motorway landscape.
Instagram: chrismarshall9833
Artist name: Aalexandra Buxbaum
Title: The Women's March & American Politics
Media: Photography
Description: The largest single-day protest in the history of the United States was the Women’s March on January 21, 2017, the day immediately following the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States. The march was fueled by what was considered by many as anti-women and offensive statements and actions on his part. His election prompted ordinary women to get engaged, organize, and run for public office, as many were outraged and angry at this turns of events. The effects of the Women’s March were far reaching and long lasting beyond that first march; a record number of women candidates were inspired to run for public office, and a record number were elected in 2018. This one-day event has endured thus far into a lasting movement that has had a major influence on our politics and elections, and saw incredible growth in women’s activism across the United States.
Instagram: @buxbaumphoto
Artist name: Paul Johnstone
Title: Numbskull
Media: iPad
Description: “Numbskull”is my out of touch and out of step alter ego .
I’m trying to find a way to encourage activity in the opposite direction.
Instagram: Johnstone311
Artist name: Beth Barlow
Title: Project Shed
Media: Online Performances
Description: As part of a socially engaged project I ran alongside a local community group in Salford we talked about the norms of giving and sharing in different locations. We developed a series of rules which related to the close knit community around the group and the transient city one I passed through to get to them. At a set time we met in a facebook group to perform, ponder and discuss the rules and create new responses like a poster saying "You are never far from a person in need of a brew".
Instagram: bethbarlow13
Artist name: Daniela Lucato
Title: My name is Sami
Media: Video
Description: A Short Film made during COVID-19 about Women Human Rights# Social Change#Women#domestic violence#domestic abuse
Logline: During the COVID-19 pandemic Sami apparently calls a friend to tell her a tragic episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oGJW8DjBJo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniela.lucato/
Artist name: Paul Mennea Laserhof
Title: We want to be in the classroom
Media: Pencil on paper
Description: Drawing used in the pre-final flyer to express the student's dissident idea to go back inside the class room and to end the remote e-learning class.
The drawing's sense to illustrate the anger and boring frustration to be eternally in lockdown....
The difficulties? Well some of the students found it to seem too much violent.
Instagram: #lashttps://www.instagram.com/laserhof/
Artist name: Maja Spasova
Title: HOUSE & CHAIN
Media: Urban performance
Description: The artist walks during 1 hour dragging House-and-Chain attached to her ankle - inspired by the famous Ball-and-Chain, the physical restraint on ankles typically used on prisoners and slaves. House-and-Chain is 7 kg, 24 x 20 x 22 cm, made of steel, attached to the ankle with the help of a metal chain and a padded leather collar.
For many today the house has become a burden - house prices, mortgages and the permanent threat of losing one's own shelter due to a financial misfortune; the house could be seen as well as a metaphor of the huge personal luggage we carry through life - all our memories, ideas, prejudices, relationships.
HOUSE & CHAIN makes an artistic and existential statement and raises important questions about our society and the role of art. The performance has strong visual as well sound elements.
HOUSE & CHAIN was performed for the very first time in Salzburg in August 2018 with support by Stadt Salzburg, Austria and Virginia Centre for the Creative Arts, USA. This performance was followed by one in Stockholm, Sweden in December 2018. More performances to follow in London, Berlin, Paris.
Instagram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x61pP8-3Zaw
