I was invited to participate in this group exhibition by the Memory Site Artefact (MSA) research group at the Arts University Plymouth in conjunction with LAND2, a creative practice-led research network of UK wide academics and researchers with an interest in landscape/place oriented art practice (of which I have been a member since 2001). The Memory Site Artefact (MSA) research group are exploring the entangled relationships between memory, site and artefact.
As part of this exhibition, I exhibited a new work 'Jigsaw/Gaza' and a related piece '(dis)place(d)' building on previous research. Jigsaw/Gaza is a 1000 piece printed jigsaw featuring an image depicting the destruction of Gaza city in 2025. This is the first work in a series of printed jigsaw works based on media coverage of warzones and sites of destruction across the world as reported through media outlets. The Ukranian and Palestinian bombardments have created circumstances of such urban devastation that it seems impossible to conceive a rebuilding programme at any time in the future.
Jigsaws were first conceived in the 18th century by John Spilsbury, a British cartographer and engraver and were used as a teaching aid for students, who could reassemble his versions of world maps into different geographical formations. They are now normally associated with slow time, relaxation and stress relief rather than educative. This work challenges the notion of the usual archetypal scenes depicted in puzzles, pastoral landscapes, Venetian canal scenes and stately homes and formal gardens. They are intended to challenge the viewers perception, a controversial image of devastation and one where there is so little tangible information within the image itself, it instigates consternation and increases stress.
The work is exhibited, partially constructed, with the outer edge in place but the rest of the pieces randomly piled on top of each other within the outer edge, mimicking the piles of rubble depicted in the scene.
These are intended to provoke a sense of impossibility and futility, provoking the audience to reconsider the passivity of society and the need to activate their opinion.
A small part of the work titled (dis)place(d) was also included in this exhibition. This work showed 4 paper 3-dimensional architectural models (from a series of over 100). These models are hand printed and meticulously hand folded to depict the sprawl of UNHCR buildings constructed to house refugees in the Jordanian camp of Azraq. This work looks at the temporality and/or permanence of the status of refugees once displaced from their homes in zones of war.
