14th January - 16th February 2022
EARTHworks [Artists] present the work of three artists living in the UK and Southern Africa; Tafadzwa Gwetai, based in Zimbabwe, Mel Larsen and Jean Joseph in London. Created over the last seven years, the exhibition spans the period prior to and over the pandemic, epitomising the balancing nature of maintaining a practice – despite prevailing impediments, essential life commitments or geographies.
The psychological and physical atelier are counterpoised – at times precariously, within the artists’ lived’ compartments; workspace, employment or lack of, familial responsibilities, aspirations and disappointments. Therefore, the elevation of inspirational peer conversations is always welcome. All productivity is fuelled by the need to create. Notwithstanding the unremitting scarcities of time and space, the commonalities of their lived experiences are of speaking their collective truths. Operating within various levels of abstraction, figuration, fragmentations, layers and scales, their art aggregates into an aesthetic wholeness.
The group are positioned equally, irrespective of creative experience, at intersecting junctures of practice, from exhibition and curatorial backgrounds, art theory and art-based pedagogy, navigations in creative spaces, or pre-occupations in professional development.
The three are never static, but continue to explore and navigate colour, the contours and abstractions of form and their range of materials and methodologies. This is presented while remaining engaged with peers, their audience and within the orbit of creative engagement.
Instagram: @earthworks_ldn
UCLH arts and heritage serves UCLH NHS Foundation Trust and its surrounding community and is funded entirely by charitable donations. The UCLH arts and heritage programme is committed to providing a welcoming, uplifting environment for all patients, visitors and staff. Its work aims to improve the patient experience, boost staff morale, increase engagement with the arts and celebrate the Trust’s unique heritage and community
