This month, UK-based curator and visual artist, Diana Ali is pleased to present the exhibition Hide me, Steal Me, Be Nice to Me in collaboration with ArtHall, Gozo. This is a touring exhibition of contemporary artwork investigating confrontational crossings, overcoming barriers & freedom of movement. The collection, in which there are more than 100 pieces ranges from birds to pioneers, from football to the problems of translation and the politics of spoken language as an array of international artists come together to question, confront and seek sanctuary through their artwork.
Interestingly, this large-scale international project on freedom of movement was itself restricted by customs and border controls. Last year this exhibition was destined to be shown in Madeira, but things didn’t go as planned: a majority of the work was detained by the Portuguese customs en route.
“As Ali wryly points out, ‘The artwork did not have a freedom to roam!” smies gallery owner Marta Obiols Fornell, “Most of the work was detained and could only make an appearance in a video. We’re delighted therefore to be showing the original work here in Malta – at ArtHall, Gozo –asa fulfillment of that first try!”
“Throughout history, some art – and forms of arts – have been banned, or shown only in secret,” explains curator Ali. “This exhibition provides an explicit opportunity for art to both be seen, and to migrate and be seen abroad. Whilst this ‘may not be a utopia,’ Gozo’s Arthall, and art shows like this, offers a new way of overcoming barriers. The art which was themed to confront crossings, is itself now confronting crossings and overcoming barriers with this new opportunity to be exhibited.”
The list of artists taking part is impressive: 36 artists, including those from the US, UK, Germany, China, Netherlands, Portugal, South Korea are involved, and many of the works focus on migration and settlement.
“Imagine the artwork being personified. What would it say if it had freedom of movement, no immigration law, finding asylum and a sense of belonging without being displaced?” adds Ali.
Limitless, for example, is a collage of digital photographs on brushed aluminium by Julia Keenan. It is based on a vista of a beauty point on an Atlantic island overlaid with images of sculptural works created in her studio, as she takes objects from the world and reconfigures them into surreal structures. “These can open up new ways of looking or perhaps challenge accepted ways of understanding. The central work is a reoccurring motif which I would describe as a self-portrait through objects. Being born in Fiji and having spent many years outside the UK. before settling here, I understand the feeling of not belonging and otherness,” says Keenan. “This work is a metaphor for artistic freedom – rising above tangible space to exist in an imagined world within the artist’s mind – here there are no limits.”
Presenting a journey by sea, Diane Murphy’s etching Dasein shows a ship in a sea of hands. “As we journey through life our time is finite and, travelling alongside our fellow human beings, we are carried forwards by the willing hands of others,” she explains. “Acknowledging those who have come before us, and our reliance upon that connection, keeps us anchored and responsive. It’s our turn to brave the seas now and make good use of our all too brief window of opportunity. We don’t do it alone.” The work’s title is a German word meaning ‘existence’, a fundamental concept in the existential philosophy of Martin Heidegger who was a central figure in the development of twentieth-century European Philosophy.
Also incorporating hands and ideas of time, Jang Sung-Suk’s contribution, a blueprint on paper, questions life and death. “Old age and ultimately death are not the end, but rather the birth of another life,” they say.
One particularly ‘dynamic’ and inventive piece by Germany’s Susie Wright tangibly offers small characters a new life: over 100 tiny ‘confetti’ people have been laser cut from photographic head of state stamps, and photographs of old maps evoking ideas of colonialism. These small figures migrate on the air currents created by visitors through the gallery space. With a freedom to roam, sometimes disappearing, other times reappearing in unexpected corners, these 2D individuals take on a life of their own at the margins of visibility.What does their 2D nature say to you? Where will they end up? And will you find one squashed beneath your shoe?
The show also includes fun paintings with ‘teen attitude’ by Tajinder Dhami, such as ‘I thought you said we were having Chips tonight’. Whilst this look as if it might have been plucked from – or hidden in – a children’s picture book, it is underpinned by her searches for common experiences of growing up as the child of migrant parents.
Hide me, Steal me, Be nice to me, curated by Diana Ali, runs from September 12 to 21 at ArtHall, Victoria.