the studio
the studio is a working space.
usually, during degree show, studios are removed to make way for one’s own final exhibition of finished work. these showings are carefully presented and curated and showcase one’s research and efforts that have led to the creation of a body of work of some kind
and it is in this environment of finality and conclusion that i would like to make a statement against it. we are told by staff, graduates and successful artists that the degree show exhibition is never the end of one’s year but the beginning of the artist’s career. therefore, if the work isn’t done, why should i abandon my working space? isn’t it sensible to continue to work through the ideas and problematics presented in the show? or writing and sketching for the continued development of this supposed seed for the future of my work? i’m remaining in the studio, working, to confront ideas of the artist at work, process and the ideal of the individual in their private space
by opening up the studio, and by my stance to remain within the studio working throughout the entirety of the show, i would like to challenge all these different notions about the way we use spaces, how artists are seen to be making and being, as well as having the rare opportunity to talk to people first hand about the work. not to control the narrative and expectations of the show in question; to receive it directly and pose a series of questions to those intrigued
from my dissertation ‘the studio, embodied’ (available to read at the Annex Gallery, in the Stow café):
and so, going so far as to re-declare our humanity through our spaces and objects we may conclude (for now!) that no matter what or where we use stuff or spaces to make ourselves, to make work, to make one another, we are unequivocally the embodiment of our humanity through them. we embody ourselves into verbs and we make more verbs, sometimes nouns, that we use to represent ourselves, the people we love, and the spaces we occupy. and that to me, is the essence of our making.
studios then, are ultimately about the making of our own humanity.
