Co–Creating
Public Space
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Portraits In a Chinese Studio
By Grace Lau
9 February–25 February 2024
Windrush Portraits
By Michael Elliott and Mary Evans
1 February–31 January 2024
Virtual Pride
By Oozing Gloop & videoclub
25 August–26 August 2023
Mela Monument
Coming Soon
Skate Landscape
Coming Soon
Co-Creating Public Space invites communities to creatively engage with artists to rethink the use of the public space in Southampton and beyond. Led by John Hansard Gallery, with funding from Arts Council England, Southampton City Council, GO! Southampton and University of Southampton.
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Portraits In a Chinese Studio
By Grace Lau
9 February–25 February 2024
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, London, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, London, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, Southampton, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, Southampton, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, Southampton, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, Southampton, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, Southampton, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In Chinese Studio, Southampton, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, Southampton, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, Southampton, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, London, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, Southampton, 2023, Courtesy the artist
, CCPS-GL-5
Grace Lau, Portraits In a Chinese Studio, Southampton, 2023. Courtesy the artist
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234 Terminus Road, Eastbourne, BN21 3DE
Open Thursday to Sunday, 11am–4pm
Following Southampton and London, Portraits In a Chinese Studio moves to Eastbourne this February!
Artist Grace Lau will recreate a 19th-century Chinese portrait studio, inviting participants and passers-by to sit for free photographic portraits alongside Chinese New Year celebrations.
Visit Grace at 234 Terminus Road, Eastbourne, BN21 3DE from 9 – 25 February 2024. Open Thursday to Sunday, 11am–4pm.
Presented in partnership with Eastbourne ALIVE and Towner Gallery.
Portraits In a Chinese Studio by Grace Lau is based on her research into studio portraits made by 19th-century and early 20th-century Western photographers in China. Lau realised that Chinese subjects were placed in a Victorian studio setting as ‘exotic subjects’ and ‘unusual beings’. Lau’s project highlights this relationship and reverses the roles for 21st-century participants.
Lau’s photographic studio will be made of ‘mock’ traditional Chinese furniture, with a decorative backdrop and accessories including a soft-toy panda rug. Participants will be asked to pose in a similar formal manner to the Victorian studio portraits. However, in contrast to their historical setting, those having their portraits taken will be encouraged to keep their contemporary accessories, such as mobile phones, shopping bags, and clothing. A free portrait will be emailed to each participant.
Grace Lau comments:
Through this project, I am making a comment on Imperialist visions of the ‘exotic’ Chinese. I want participants to think about how different people have been represented in portraits over time, and today – placing people in this constructed historic setting and taking their portrait is a great way to start that conversation.
Portraits In a Chinese Studio in Southampton was presented in association with Chinese Arts Southampton, Chinese Association of Southampton, UK Shaolin Centre, and the Confucius Institute. Digital copies of all the photographs were donated to Southampton City Archives, with the aspiration of creating a social record of communities in 2023.
Following the project’s run at the Marlands Centre, Southampton in February 2023, a selection of portraits taken were placed on display at John Hansard Gallery during September 2023. The project then toured to the Centre for British Photography, London from 5 October – 17 December 2023.
Windrush Portraits
By Michael Elliott and Mary Evans
1 February–31 January 2024
Michael Elliott, Windrush Portraits, Southampton, October 2023. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Nosa Malcolm
Michael Elliott, Windrush Portraits, Southampton, October 2023. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Nosa Malcolm
Michael Elliott, Windrush Portraits, Southampton, October 2023. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Nosa Malcolm
Michael Elliott, Windrush Portraits, Southampton, October 2023. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Nosa Malcolm
Michael Elliott, Windrush Portraits, Southampton, October 2023. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Nosa Malcolm
Mary Evans, Windrush Portraits, Southampton, October 2023. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Nosa Malcolm
Mary Evans, Windrush Portraits, Southampton, October 2023. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Nosa Malcolm
Mary Evans, Windrush Portraits, Southampton, October 2023. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Nosa Malcolm
Windrush Portraits, installation view, Jamaica, 2023. Photo: O'Neil Grant Photography
Windrush Portraits, installation view, Jamaica, 2023. Photo: O'Neil Grant Photography
Windrush Portraits, installation view, Jamaica, 2023. Photo: O'Neil Grant Photography
Windrush Portraits, installation view, Jamaica, 2023. Photo: O'Neil Grant Photography
Windrush Portraits, installation view, Jamaica, 2023. Photo: O'Neil Grant Photography
Windrush Portraits, installation view, Jamaica, 2023. Photo: O'Neil Grant Photography
Michael Elliott, Storm In a Teacup, 2018. Courtesy the artist
Mary Evans, Please Do Not Bend 14, Manila envelope, paper ink, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Mary Evans, Please Do Not Bend 13, Manila envelope, paper ink, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Mary Evans, Please Do Not Bend 12, Manila envelope, paper ink, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Mary Evans, Please Do Not Bend 11, Manila envelope, paper ink, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Mary Evans, Please Do Not Bend 9, Manila envelope, paper ink, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Mary Evans, Please Do Not Bend 8, Manila envelope, paper ink, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Mary Evans, Please Do Not Bend 6, Manila envelope, paper ink, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Mary Evans, Please Do Not Bend 4, Manila envelope, paper ink, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Mary Evans, Please Do Not Bend 3, Manila envelope, paper, ink, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Mary Evans, Please Do Not Bend 2, Manila envelope, paper, ink, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Michael Elliott, Papercut, 2019. Courtesy the artist
Michael Elliott, May Day, 2018. Courtesy the artist
Michael Elliott, Knight of Dawn, 2019. Courtesy the artist
Michael Elliott, Deportea, 2019. Courtesy the artist
Michael Elliott, Brixton Brewing, 2018. Courtesy the artist
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Billboards and shop units in Jamaica and Southampton during 2023 and 2024
Beginning in February 2023 during Black History Month in the Caribbean and USA, Kingston Creative, Jamaica is partnering with UK organisations John Hansard Gallery, Black History Month South, and Southampton Black Archives to celebrate and commemorate the Windrush generation and give voice to the subsequent Windrush scandal.
Windrush Portraits is the first stage of a transatlantic artistic collaboration with communities in both Kingston, Jamaica and Southampton, UK. During 2023, artists Mary Evans (based in UK) and Michael Elliott (based in Jamaica) will present iconic artworks that highlight the legacy of the Windrush generation and migration.
The artists will undertake exchange visits to Southampton and Kingston to meet both Caribbean communities in Southampton and Windrush returnees in Kingston. These visits will result in new artworks, created in collaboration with communities, that will be presented on city centre shop units and bus stops in Southampton, and on the front of John Hansard Gallery during October, Black History Month in the UK.
For this project, Michael Elliott’s and Mary Evans’ artworks will explore the personal, political, social and post-colonial legacy of the Empire Windrush and the Windrush Generation of West Indian migrants (as well as their descendants) who arrived in the UK from 1948–1971. Under the UK government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy from 2009, some members of the Windrush Generation and their families were wrongfully persecuted and deported from the UK and returned to Jamaica. These returnees often lost their homes, livelihoods, and health because of the UK government’s actions, that has become known as the Windrush scandal.
Windrush Portraits will be developed through conversations with Caribbean communities in Kingston, Jamaica and Southampton, UK to celebrate the individuals, highlight the injustices, and commemorate the important contribution of the Windrush Generation to the UK’s recovery in the post-war period.
During 2023, Mary Evans delivered creative workshops with members of the Windrush generation in Southampton and their family and friends. During these sessions, Evans took side-profile photographs of the participants which she turned into silhouettes, recalling the British tradition of silhouette portraits. These silhouettes can now be seen in a new work on the front of John Hansard Gallery. Meanwhile, a new piece by Michael Elliott, The Calling, continues his socio-political series on Windrush and can be found on shop units across Southampton.
Windrush Portraits has been developed in partnership with Kingston Creative and has been supported by iPrint, Jamaica and ROK Hotel Kingston, Jamaica.
Virtual Pride
By Oozing Gloop & videoclub
25 August–26 August 2023
An open air; Tentacular-Spectacular-Creature-Feature-Film-Trail
With Oozing Gloop and Videoclub
Friday 25 August 2023
Join us and watch as they fester in alleys and spawn a series of short films. The project projects these onto surfaces in the city, car parks are our canvas and every wall a new opportunity to exhibit.
Curated and hosted by Oozing Gloop, in partnership with Videoclub, follow the mobile cinema as it moves around the city. The trail features our favourite drag critters, Lasana Shabazz, Frogb0i, Shrek666, Bonnie Bakeneko and WET MESS.
The trail will cover approximately 2km and will end near John Hansard Gallery. The pace is leisurely and easy.
Oozing Gloop is the world’s premier green, autistic drag queen. Troublesome, camp and revolting, her interdisciplinary practice born out of a life of cabaret creates a queer spectacle exploring Awe: the awful, the awesome, and the autistic.
videoclub is an artists’ moving image and digital culture agency, showing artists’ work across the UK and internationally. They support artists through curated programmes, engaging the public through screenings, exhibitions, residencies, and commissions.
They work in collaboration to develop inventive, stimulating events and opportunities to show artists’ work. From small collectives to large institutions, they exhibit work in cinemas, festivals, museums, galleries, outdoors and online, presenting diverse work by early career to established artists.
Commissioned by John Hansard Gallery as part of Co-Creating Public Space, with support by Arts Council England, Southampton City Council, GO! Southampton, University of Southampton and Southampton Pride. Produced by Artsadmin.
A Midnight Swamp Gala
John Hansard Gallery, 10.30pm – midnight
An elegant evening awaits us after the film trail in the lobby of John Hansard Gallery where we can live, laugh and lounge around. Complementary reading material will be made available to peruse, whilst films of an artistic nature play. Who knows? There may even be a performance or two! This event is free and open to the public, but you must be over 18+. Book your place by emailing: jack@jhg.art
Mela Monument
By Permindar Kaur
Coming Soon
Renowned artist Permindar Kaur will develop a new sculptural monument for Southampton. The Mela Monument will launch alongside the Mela Festival in July 2024. This project explores the notion of home in Southampton and beyond. In partnership with Art Asia and Southampton Mela.