Grayson Perry, the Vanity of Small Differences and the weaving of a community tapestry …

The last Clothes, Cloth & Culture Group meeting focussed on the theme of ‘Cloth and Social Action’. Françoise Dupré spoke of her work during the 1980s in collaboration with the Brixton Art Gallery, in particular the Patchwork of Our Lives banners created with a group of Soweto women at the height of the anti-Apartheid campaigns in 1986. She also spoke about Women’s Work, an arts organisation that she co-founded. She recalled the annual banners that they made, drawing on earlier political banner making traditions, for example, those worked by the Socialist Movement and by the Suffragettes. This stitching, piecing and embroidering was of course happening around the time of Rozsika Parker’s Subversive Stitch and the subsequent show at the Cornerhouse and Whitworth Art Galleries. This was the era during which the barriers between craft and art began to be torn down and the domestic space was shown to be the political space that perhaps it always was, particularly for working class women. Dupré went on to discuss her current work concerned with cosmopolitanism, with the plasticity and the sociability of textile crafts, with the use of textiles as a ‘portal’, and with the crafting of space through collaborative participatory social practice, that binds the haptic to the making of socially meaningful art objects. She reminded us of Stuart Hall’s notion of  ‘home’ as process; a concept that rests on ongoing engagement, i.e. something that needs to be ‘worked’.

The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine
Rozsika Parker. Cover Image © I.B. Tauris

These points were brought to life by Victoria Khur, Ruth-Marie Tunkara, the QSA ‘Knees Up’ knitting and crochet club ladies and Derek (currently the only male member of the club). Through a ‘vox-pop’ style film, Khur and Tunkara relayed tales of newly formed relationships that cross generational, economic, racial and cultural divides, stories of the sharing of knowledge and expertise, and accounts of the empowerment of the residents that attend the club. A project of Quaker Social Action, situated in London’s, Bethnal Green, ‘Knees Up’ uniquely promotes a belief in the possible by focusing on what is strong in communities, rather than what is wrong with communities. The title of their presentation, ‘Weaving a Community Tapestry’, neatly sums up the common ground between the two presentations and the content of the discussions that followed. At a certain level, Dupré, Khur and Tunkara’s talks were underlined by this notion of possibility, which is aligned to the idea of unity through difference.

Earlier on that Thursday, I had visited PROGESS at the Foundling Museum, Brunswick Square, London. Set out over three floors, the exhibition marks the 250^th anniversary of William Hogarth’s death by showcasing the responses of four contemporary artists - Yinka Shonibare MBE, Grayson Perry, David Hockney and Jessie Brennan – to his infamous series of etchings A Rake’s Progress, (1735). Grayson Perry’s the Vanity of Small Differences occupies the basement.

Grayson Perry, The Vanity of Small Differences, The Adoration of the Cage Fighters, 2012. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery, London © The artist

Perry’s the Vanity of Small Differences consists of six tapestries charting the progress of Tim Rakewell. These densely woven and richly coloured tapestries provide Perry with a means through which to explore issues around class and taste as the exhibition catalogue tells us. But, in my view, these intricate hangings also speak about today’s rapidly changing urban landscapes, or ‘social fabric’, to reference a previous Iniva project. Rakewell’s progress tells the story of not only the demise of a man but also the breakdown of communities that we all too often witness in this contemporary moment. Today’s fast-paced social upheaval could be said to parallel that of the 1980’s noted above: the unstable economic climate, the gentrification of former working class areas coupled with a dearth of affordable housing, the rise of far right political movements, the growing fragmentation of society. Biblical references, compositional strategies reminiscent of religious paintings and narrative structures based on Hogarth’s original Rake collide with recognisable symbols of wealth and lack of wealth in Perry’s series: a cafetiére, an allotment, a young ‘baby mother’, a smart phone, a copy of Hello magazine. The viewer is taken through the various stages of Rakewell’s journey from his working class roots to his rise to the upper classes. The last tapestry #Lamentation depicts our protagonist’s violent passing at the wheels of his Ferrari. His body, pulled from the wreckage and surrounded by capitalist markers of success, lies motionless at the centre of the scene. The whole is tweeted by onlookers positioned in the background of the piece, hence the Twitter hashtag in the title. Might this final act represent the ultimate rending of a community tapestry?

 

Grayson Perry, The Vanity of Small Differences, The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal, 2012. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery, London © The artist

Progress: William Hogarth, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Grayson Perry, David Hockney, Jessie Brennan

The Foundling Museum

6^th June – 7^th September 2014

Christine Checinska

Clothes Cloth and Culture Group, Stuart Hall Library 26 June 2014  Cloth and Social Action

Françoise Dupré, blouses de travail

Many thanks to our presenters Françoise Dupré, Victoria Kuhr,  Ruth Marie Tunkaraand  Knees Up members and to convenor Dr.Chistine Checinska for a very enjoyable and informative meeting last week. There was a lively question and answer session and the audience seemed reluctant to leave! Audio recordings are available at the bottom of this post.

Françoise Dupré

Françoise Dupré makes textiles-based sculptures and temporary installations for art and non-art spaces including shops, hospitals and libraries. Françoise talked about how her cross-disciplinary approaches to making and her multicultural and social art practice. She described how crafting practice can be transformative for people in the contexts of migration, post-conflict and health. Françoise brought along her mother's worn the blouses de travail apron/dresses. They were associated with the working-class and Françoise found similar aprons worn by women in Russia.

Françoise Dupré

Edna from Knees Up

Knees Up: Victoria Kuhr and Ruth Marie Tunkara are part of a team of staff and residents from Knees Up a community-building project in Bethnal Green, London. Victoria and Ruth explained how the project had been instrumental in bringing neighbours together. 

Ruth Marie Tunkara from Knees Up

Leyla from Knees Up

Victoria Khur from Knees Up

Communal space and activities have given residents the opportunity to exchange their skills in knitting and crochet and to make new friendships. In a film made by the project organisers, the residents shared their memories, and described how Knees Up has made a difference to their lives. 

Three audio recordings of the event 

Thanks to all at the Clothes, Cloth and Culture Group

The Chinese Dress : Dr. Wessie Ling

Many thanks to convenor Dr Christine Checinska, presenters Dr. Bharti Parmar and Dr. Wessie Ling for sharing their research, original thinking and artworks at our Clothes Cloth and Culture meeting on 27th May.
Bharti and Wessie addressed the theme of the first meeting; 'Cloth and the Archive', from different but equally fascinating viewpoints.

Some members of the audience were kind enough to send us their enthusiastic comments:

'The ... group was great tonight. Real Inspiration.'

'A great first meeting! Onwards and upwards, looking forward to the next one.'

'Amazing event! ... Really enjoyed the talks, can't wait till the next one.'

The audio recordings of the event should be available later this week

The next Clothes, Cloth & Culture meeting will be on Thursday 26th June 2014.

Watch this space!

Guest blog post: Joshua Hastings, Stuart Hall Library Volunteer

Joshua Hastings

My time spent volunteering at the Stuart Hall Library has been a fantastic experience. I have met so many helpful and supportive people who have aided me in my undergraduate study at the University of Westminster where I have just graduated with first-class honours in BA Contemporary Media Practice.

The opportunity to produce source notes as a guide to the Library’s unique collection based on the theme of ‘Geography, Space and Place’ enabled me to extend my research interests in cultural identity to consider the environments in which identity and cultural understanding are constructed. The importance of this came as such in my last year of study when writing my dissertation and producing my major project in which I explored the history and heritage of Britain in the rural space, and the experience of migration and new settlements from the late 20^th Century to the present day. I intend to continue researching the relationship between geography, space and place, and how differing geographic locations produce varied concepts of national, cultural and racial belonging and identification.

With the help of general guidelines, I was able to freely select which material would be included in the guide. I made my selection based upon texts which helped me to understand the subject area as a newcomer, and those which I felt would be useful for others similarly exploring this subject area for the first time. I was stunned at the range of theoretic and artistic engagement in the collection and have included a select few examples ranging from general overviews to in-depth critical theory, stimulating artist works and also engaging panel discussions, each categorised accordingly.

Key themes which came out from researching Geography, Space and Place were to do with the structures of power in mapmaking and the limitations of traditional cartography in representing the world, and also how the experience of displacement and migration have altered how we presently may understand cultural identity. Also raised were questions of belonging, territory and globalisation. Whilst there are no conclusive answers or simple resolutions here, I hope to offer up multiple leads for investigation and plenty of food for thought. 

Joshua Hastings

http://joshuahastings.com

Stuart Hall Library source notes: Geography, space and place

This guide provides an introduction to resources for exploring and studying Geography, Space and Place. The library’s collection ranges from texts on Human Geography, Urban and Cultural Studies, to audio-visual material, catalogues and ephemera from exhibitions held at Iniva. Library shelfmarks can be found under each title, and keywords are listed under each abstract to indicate a general subject area for each item.The guide aims to be indicative rather than comprehensive.

The following texts introduce key themes and theories in relation to Geography, Space and Place:

Key Thinkers on Space and Place     

ESS KEY                                                                             

Edited by Phil Hubbard and Rob Kitchin

Los Angeles; London: Sage Publications, 2011

A comprehensive introduction to the key themes and thinkers of contemporary geographic and cultural studies, and explores the importance of space and place in social, political, economic life.

Human Geography/ Cultural Studies/ Urban Studies/ Anthropology

Space and Place: Theories of Identity and Location   

ESS SPA                                                  

Edited by Erica Carter, James Donald and Judith Squires

London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1993

A collection of essays citing examples from various locales between 1987 and 1991 to examine the effects of displacement and exile on the cultural production of identity and belonging, and how these experiences have disrupted concepts of place, nationhood, and home.

Cultural Identity/ Displacement and Migration/ History/ Transnationalism

Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change          

ESS MAP                                                  

Edited by Jon Bird, Barry Curtis, Tim Putnam, George Robertson and Lisa Tickner

London: Routledge, 1993

A range of in-depth analyses critically examining recent social, political, and economic changes and the implications of globalisation for framing and understanding cultural practice in the future.

Cultural Studies/ Globalisation/ Transnationalism/ Art & Cultural Practice

  

For Space

ESS MAS

Doreen Massey

London: Sage Publications, 2010

Massey reconsiders assumed understanding of space and time, critiquing their political and social impacts on global perceptions of populations and territorial boundaries.

Human Geography/ Globalisation/ Urban Studies

In Place/ Out of Place: Geography, Ideology, Transgression       ESS CRE         

Tim Cresswell

Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press, 1996

Cresswell examines the associations between ideology and geography, and the normalised hegemony of social structures which assume particular behavioural patterns and cultural understanding of people in the spaces they inhabit.

Cultural Studies/ Human Geography/ Power and Authority

Rethinking the Power of Maps                                                      ESS WOO                          

Dennis Wood

New York: The Guildford Press, 1992

An introductory read into the history of mapping and cartography as an organisational tool from the 16th Century to the present day, and also considers “counter-mapping” and “critical cartography” as an undermining process to national institutional authority over mapmaking. The book contains illustrations and examination of the mapping and counter-mapping of Palestine.

Cartographic Studies/ History/ Power and Authority/ War and Conflict

In/Different Spaces: Place and Memory in Visual Culture           ESS BUR                                           

Victor Burgin

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996

The book consults a range of psychoanalytic theories to analyse the role of visual media representation in the physical space and its effects on identity construction and constitution of ‘self’ and ‘other’ in the imagined, interior, psychological space.

Cultural Studies/ Psychoanalysis/ Identity/ Visual Culture

Displacements: Cultural Identities in Question  

ESS DIS

Edited by Angelika Bammer

Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994

A collection of texts which explore the continuation of culture when dislocated from its native geographical space through the experience of displacement, colonisation, and migration; the book includes contributions by Homi L. Bhabha, Doreen Massey and Julio Ramos among other cultural theorists.

Cultural Studies/ Diaspora/ Transnationalism/ Postcolonialism/ Displacement; Migration/ Cultural Identity

Terra Infirma: Geography’s Visual Culture                                   ESS ROG                                                  

Irit Rogoff

London: Routledge, 2000

The book analyses the work of international contemporary artists to examine the extent to which geography as a signifying practice can fully represent contemporary experience of migration, ‘inbetweenness’ and belonging.

Cultural Studies/ Art and Cultural Practice/ Geography/ Migration

Rethinking Curating: Art after New Media

ESS GRA

Beryl Graham and Sarah Cook

Cambirdge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2010

The book reflects on internationalism in art and curatorial practice, and considers a decentralised networked approach to communities across physical and virtual spaces. 

Art and Cultural Practice/ Globalisation/ New Media

Artist's monographs and exhibition catalogues

A selection of artists and exhibition catalogues addressing issues of Geography, Space, and Place:

Trade Routes: History and Geography: 2nd Johannesburg Biennale 1997             

682.2 BIE 1997

Okwui Enwezor

Johannesburg: Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council, 1997

The catalogue for the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale 1997 includes illustrations of artists’ works and text from writers and contributors engaged in discussion of globalisation’s history and its cultural produce born from resilience and fusion, displacement and migration.

Globalisation/ History/ Displacement and Migration

Alfredo Jaar: Geography=War                                                       AS JAA                                                  

Richmond, VA; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1991

The book features images and text on Alfredo Jarr’s provocative exhibition ‘Geography=War’ in which the artist confronts Eurocentric and divisive representations of the world as geographical truth, and critiques the disparity between industrialised and non-industrialised countries in the world. Catalogued also is the Arnold Peters 1974 map of the world which distinctly and accurately maps territories scaled in relation to their landmass.

Mapping and Cartographic Practice/ Power and Authority/ History/ War and Conflict

Ingrid Pollard: Postcards Home                                                       AS POL                         

London: Autograph, 2004

Pollard’s photographic engagement with geography, space and place addresses cultural identity, national history, and authority, particularly across the imagined marginalising boundaries of the British rural and coastal landscape documented in this book.

Cultural Identity/ Power and Authority/ History

Landscape Trauma: In the Age of Scopophilia                               410.111 AUT LAN                             

Richard Hylton (curator)

London: Autograph, 2001

The book catalogues works by several artists featured in the exhibition of the same title, opening up revised perspectives and views of the world by distorting, disrupting and deconstructing representations of the landscape in response to national and global changes to the geographic, social and economic climate. Contains illustrations of works by; Annabel Howland, Henna Nadeem, Ingrid Pollard, Camila Sposati, S.T.I. Consortium

Visual Culture and Representation/ Globalisation

Whose Map is it? New Mapping by Artists                                     410.111 INI WHO  

Christine Takengny, Teresa Cisneros

London: Institute of International Visual Arts (Iniva), 2010

The exhibition considers the role of mapping in contemporary art and the perspective from which maps have been produced and how they inform our world view. The booklet includes illustrations of artists’ works and texts from several writers.

Mapping and Cartographic Practice/ Power and Authority/ Visual Culture and Representation

Creative Compass: New Commissions by Agnes Poitevin-Navarre and Susan Stockwell

 410.111 RGS CRE

Vandana Petal, Teresa Cisneros

London: Royal Geographic Society

The book features information on a Royal Geographic Society’s initiative in collaboration with INIVA to engage new audiences with Geography as a means to further understanding of the world, its populations and environments. Building upon the Society’s extensive collection of maps and atlases, along with commissioned pieces by artists Agnès Poitevin-Navarre and Susan Stockwell, Creative Compass confronts the challenges that global change presents, explores the history of map making and the role of the map in everyday life, and the exclusion of information in cartographic practice.

Mapping and Cartographic Practice/ Visual Culture and Representation/ Power and Authority

Artists and Maps: Cartography as a Means of Knowing               795 ART                                            

Portland, Oregon: Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis; Clark College: 2003

This booklet features illustrations of artists’ works shown in the exhibition exploring the metaphoric and narrative components of maps in intersecting fact and fiction into our world view. Commentary by Linda Brady Tesner (Director of the Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art: Lewis; Clark College).

Mapping and Cartographic Practice/ Visual Culture and Representation

                                                                                                             

Place

ESS DEA                            

Tacita Dean and Jeremy Millar

London: Thames and Hudson

The exhibition catalogue features illustrations from artists in addressing political, historical and social distinctions between concepts of space, place and less familiar non-places.

Urban Studies/ History/ Power and Authority

Audio-visual material

A select of archived recordings exploring Geography, Space and Place held in Stuart Hall Library’s audio-visual collection;

INIVA : ‘Nation’   

(panel discussion)                                                                  

CD 316

London: INIVA, 2009

This audio CD recorded at INIVA features discussion led by Argentine-born Gabriela Salgado exploring concepts of national and transnational identity as a subject for artists and a context for their work, with responses from artists Alexandra Handal and Nada Prija who reflect on their practice and examine to what extent local notions of belonging and rootedness have been redefined by transnationalism in the arts.

Visual Culture and Representation/ Cultural Identity/ Transnationalism

Crossing Boundaries Symposium                                                    CD 320     

London: Royal Geographic Society, INIVA, 2010

The tracked CD documents various panel discussions with geographers and artists on the convergence of humanities and the visual arts by INIVA and the Royal Geographic Society, and considers creative and critical approaches to mapping and cartographic processes, the limitations of traditional cartography, and also the technology used to produce and read maps.

Mapping ; Cartographic Practice/ Visual Culture; Representation/ Technology

Whose Map is it? 

(panel discussion)

CD 327                                                                      

London: INIVA, 2010

The CD contains two sessions, both featuring artists in discussion of their work and engagement with mapping. The first features Colombian, Moroccan and Nigerian artists exhibited in INIVA’s ‘Whose Map is it?’ show who expand on their selected themes concerning migration, land ownership and borders. How these artists have used mapping creatively is then explored by Dr Harriet Hawkins in conversation with Heath Bunting in the second part of this audio CD.

Visual Culture and Representation / Displacement and Migration/ Mapping and Cartographic Practice

Whose Map is it? The Content and Meaning of the Spaces we Encounter

CD 329

London: INIVA, 2010

This CD is a recording of a panel discussion between Paul Goodwin and Alex Vasudevan held during INIVA’s ‘Whose Map is it’ exhibition, focusing on the city space and analysing migrant patterns in urban areas. The panel elaborates on contemporary mapping practices by artists in relation to their research, examining urban development in Lisbon and the history of squatting in Berlin.

Urban Studies/ Visual Culture ; Representation / History/ Displacement ; Migration

Stuart Hall Library Symposium The Trouble with Research - call for papers from Artists, Scholars, Critics

The first symposium of the Stuart Hall Library Research Network The Trouble with Research proposes an active (and positive) approach to researching and creating things. It also brings into question methods, techniques and decision making matters integral to making art and undertaking research. Fundamentally though we can use the phrase to recognise research and creativity as a practice and process of questioning, problematising, critiquing and contextualising culture. It is a way to recognise and wrangle with the inherent anomalies and disjunctures associated with interdisciplinary research and practice. We are currently seeking papers and artist presentations on:

• Stuart Hall’s work on culture and representation
• Artistic and/or curatorial practice
• Filmmaking and media analysis
• Cultural histories – local and diasporic
• Literary Studies including criticism and theory
• Researching visual archives

Deadline: Friday 22nd May. Email a 250 word summary, a short biography (no more than 200 words) and equipment requirements to Sonia Hope, Library Manager, and Roshini Kempadoo (Media Artist, Photographer, Reader in Media Practice, UEL and Stuart Hall Library Animateur).
email: library@iniva.org

Stuart Hall Library Research Network meeting, Thursday 25 April, 6.30-8.30

Join us for our fourth Research Network meeting.

Alice Corble will present ‘Storying’ the Postcolonial Library

Alice is a PhD second-year student at Goldsmiths University of London, Sociology department. Her research looks at cultural and political dimensions of public and alternative libraries in Britain in the present conjuncture of economic crisis and technological change. Alice has experience of working in public and alternative libraries in London, and became a certified 'Radical Librarian' with The Feminist Library in 2009. Alice was an AHRC research fellow at Sarai during winter 2012-2013, when she explored the postcolonial library landscapes of Delhi and Kolkata. These experiences have caused her to rethink the dominant narratives and values associated with libraries, and guided her research into finding new ways of reading library history, knowledge and experience, which she will explore in this presentation.

Maxine Miller will respond to Alice’s presentation.

Maxine is currently Library Collections Manager at Tate Library and Archives. She is also a member of the BCA Steering Committee, and part of the UCL Drawing Over the Colour Line Research Project Steering Group. She was Library and Information Manager at the Iniva (now Stuart Hall) Library from 2006-2010. Maxine has extensive knowledge and experience of libraries; she was Chair of the African Caribbean Library Association, Commissioner on the Mayor of London’s Commission on African and Asian Heritage, and a Digital Resource Associate for the Arts Council Cultural Leadership Programme at the National Library of Jamaica. Maxine was identified as a Woman to Watch by the Arts Council in 2010.

Space is limited in the library, so if you have not already done so please contact us to book a place.

For more information or to submit a proposal to present at future meetings, email us

Photo by Christa Holka

The Reading Group Returns, 11 April 2013

The library is hosting a reading group session in April, with more meetings to follow in May and June.

Keywords, New Keywords

On Thursday 11 April, 6.30-8pm we will meet to discuss the seminal text and inspiration for Iniva's latest exhibition, Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1976) by Raymond Williams, comparing it to a later title inspired by it, New Keywords: A revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society edited by Tony Bennett, Lawrence Grossberg and Meaghan Morris (2005).

We will read the introductions to both texts and compare their approaches, the contents, and the way in which these publications reflect changes in language use and culture.

Space in the library is limited. To book a place, email us.

Copies of the introductory chapters will be available in the library from 28 March.

More information to follow on the session in May.