The Land Between Us

I’m one of the curators who is working with Maria Balshaw on the exhibition of West African art that’ll open in June 2012. The exhibition’s called We Face Forward and will show at the Whitworth, Manchester Art Gallery, and the Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall. In a few weeks time, I’m off to Bamako in Mali to see the photography biennale there.

The brick for the obelisk is from terraced houses in the Bowes Street area of Moss Side, near to the old Stagecoach bus shed.  GB Building Solutions supplied the brick, which was them crushed into aggregate by Offerton Sand and Gravel.

After hearing exhibition-inspired poetry from John McAuliffe, the final talk of the day was from Israel born artists Larissa Sansour and Oreet Ashery on their experimental graphic novel The Novel of Nonel and Vovel. In the novel Larissa and Oreet become superheroes, a device which is used to explore day to day life and politics in Palestine.

Oreet on the ideas behind the book “Palestine is a place in which fantasy does not seem so far fetched, for instance I became a weapons instructor at 19 due to military conscription. And so the idea of a superhero book seemed to make sense, we could deconstruct the situation whilst making the politics more accessible.”

Larissa on the links between politics and her art “We make art about what we know, and in our case we have to make art about politics.”

Larissa Sansour’s video work Soup Over Bethlehem (2006) continues to show as part of the exhibition. For more information on Oreet Ashery visit her website.

After a screening of The Genome Chronicles directed by John Akomfrah (formerly of Black Audio Film Collective) we were priviledged to hear one of Africa’s most celebrated contemporary artists Romuald Hazoumé in conversation with Elisabeth Lalouschek of the October Gallery in London.

Romuald detailed the tradition and symbolism in his work, however it was most inspiring to learn about what inspires him to make artwork about his homeland.

“I don’t always know where I am, or where I’m going, but I certainly know where I’m from.

I am always making art for my community, because I know them the best and I want to help them to be more open.”

Explore the Romuald Hazoumé collection at the October Gallery here

In his talk titled Dislocating, Relocating Hulme Dr Steve Millington from Manchester Metropolitan University spoke about Manchester’s infamous neighbourhood as a place which allows us to “explore all the successes and failures of town planning and management in this county.” He described Hulme as a place which is unusual in a British context as an area which has been flattened and reconstructed twice since the 1950s, and thus has experienced extreme dislocation.

Steve argued that the city is always an “unfinished project” and called for a reevaluation of our conservation values noting “the ugly gems of modernist architecture jar against the current more favourable smooth lines and postmodern sheen of New Manchester.”

Hulme is the subject of a new sculpture by Cyprien Gaillard to be erected in Whitworth Park in conjunction with the exhibition. The sculpture will recall Hulme’s 1960s iconic buildings by reclycling concrete from the Otterburn Close site on Birley Fields.

Follow Steve on Twitter here and for more information on Cyprien Gaillard see his artist bio here

The Whitworth recently acquired twelve works by Chinese artist Li-Yuan Chia made during his time living near Hadrian’s Wall, five of which feature in the exhibition. In the first talk at the Saturday Supplement Sally Lai (Director, Chinese Arts Centre) and Bob Dickenson (Producer, BBC) joined us to discuss the making of a radio documentary on Li’s life and the continuing journey to establish him as one of the most important Chinese artists of the 20th century.

Bob on Manchester’s Li-Yuan Chia connection “Luckily for us his archive is held at John Rylands library, so we were straight down there. Anyone can make an appointment to see the as yet uncatalogued archive which consists of photos, sculptures, cameras…”

Sally on how the story was told “It was less like telling a linear story and more about who and where can we interview next, I had to be ready to travel at every moment. We formed a incredible picture of Li in a local context despite the fact that original TV and radio interviews with him have been lost”

Bob on Li’s legacy “Li was a maverick modernist – with parallels in his unusual settlement in the North of England only maybe to Kurt Schwitters”

Sally on Li’s legacy “Li is unique, but as David Nash said so is the landscape in which he settled”

The archive is available to view by appointment at John Rylands Library and more information about Li’s work and life can be found on the LYC Foundation website.