Tahera Aziz - [Re]Locate

Over Half term we visited Artist Tahera Aziz, who spoke to us about How we can create and Anti-Racist Art and Design Pedagogy.

'...never [to] take the tedious task of waiting for a bus fro granted.'

This artist had made work using the case of Stephen Lawrence, her work consisted of a sound piece that re-enacted the events of the child's murder.

As the artist was engaging in Sound Installation, I offered my Masters' Thesis for her to read

as it is on the curation of sound installations. She was very interested in this and I have now

sent this over to her.

About the installation:

[re]locate is a sonic installation revisiting an ordinarily public ‘place’ that retains the traces of a deeply significant event; it is concerned with the processes involved in struggling to preserve the memory of that event whilst offering new insights. The impetus for the work flows from the tragic events surrounding the racially motivated murder of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence near a bus stop in south London in 1993, and the deep impact this has had publicly particularly following the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry into the police handling of the murder investigation, and its subsequent lack of resolution.

Taking the notion of the daily routine of waiting at the bus stop as its starting point, [re]locate explores the disruption of the everyday, to foreground the event once again, highlighting detailed elements that have particular resonance. On entering the space the audience members assume the role of ‘pedestrians’ or ‘passers-by’, guiding the unfolding of the sonic events. Depending on their movements within the installation, they unravel the multi-layered elements, recounted from different perspectives or time frames of significance to the case. Essentially, the audience rediscover fragments that bear witness to the event that has long since past, but still demands closure.

Tahera Aziz has had a longstanding creative and political interest in identity, migration and racism. She has produced photo-based and installation work that explores how wider socio-political issues or events can impact on the individual to shape their experiences, and their sense of self and belonging. Motivated by a desire to explore the potential of sound to re-examine events associated with the Stephen Lawrence case, Aziz has developed [re]locate with funding from the Arts Council of England and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, in partnership with London South Bank University and PVA MediaLab. The preview celebrates the creative outcomes of the research and marks a transition of the work into a form for public viewing and response. [re]locate will continue to evolve in each of its new locations and spaces, with audience responses being integral to the process.

This installation was originally previewed at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning (London). The current exhibition is now open to staff and to students at the University of South Bank. Alongside this, and in collaboration with Dr Carol Wild (PGCE Art and Design at the Institute of Education), we will work with the secondary school teacher trainees and their mentors to model an antiracist approach to art and design within the classroom.

Breakdown of the day:

The day started with a discussion of anti-racist pedagogy, then we viewed the artist's work and discussed our initial responses. Following this we found out more about the artist's planning and information about the events depicted through the supporting documents that the artist exhibited alongside her work. We then had lunch and discussed artists that engage in racism and actively make work that deal with racism and discrimination.

Finally, I volunteered to complete an interview discussing the artist's work and the implications it had on myself as a trainee teacher, which was recorded by Winston, who was recording and documenting the events of the day.

I made my notes here on a serviette.

Artists that can be used to explore an anti-racist Pedagogy:

Fred Wilson - Mining the Museum

African-American artist Fred Wilson took a fresh look at the MHS’s (A Museum in Maryland) permanent collections, Wilson found that historic pieces could be reinterpreted through juxtaposition to tell a wider range of stories about human experience, emphasising the historic exclusion of the Native and African-American viewpoint.

The intriguing aspect of the exhibition was not so much the work chosen for display, but how the work chosen was displayed. Fine silver teapots were placed adjacent to iron shackles, and a Klan hood served as the linen in an antique baby carriage. A whipping post was conspicuously set among handsomely carved 19th century armchairs creating new implicit dialogues about the narratives that are excluded and unrepresented by museums about our histories.

More Information: https://bmoreart.com/2017/05/how-mining-the-museum-changed-the-art-world.html

Veronica Ryan - Hackney Windrush

The sculptures by artist Veronica Ryan, Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae), and

Soursop (Annonaceae) (2021), depict three Caribbean fruits and vegetables. Authorities believe it to be the first permanent monument celebrating the generation of migrant workers who came to the U.K. from the Caribbean during the postwar period to help boost its depleted labor market.

More Information: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sculpture-london-windrush-2016018

Barbara Walker - The Big Secret I

Walker's exhibition at Cristea Roberts Gallery, 'Barbara Walker; Vanishing Point', interrogates the Black presence in Western art history, focussing on the way that institutions and the dominant culture perpetuate negative attitudes and perceptions. Reinterpreting works by other artists, she uses a combination of drawing and blind embossing to highlight Black figures while obscuring the dominant white subjects. With these acts of erasure, Walker spotlights historical inequities and invites viewers to consider how history is made and how such strategies might reorient our understanding of Black identity.

Artist Website: https://www.barbarawalker.co.uk/