Issuu

Xhibit 2022 | 25th Annual Exhibition

Championing Future Creatives

Introduction

The Koppel Project 125 New Bond Street London W1S 1DY

Each edition of Xhibit is a unique development opportunity for selected UAL students. As part of the offer students gain exhibition exposure, networking, mentoring, sales representation via our platform Made in Arts, London, and critical creative feedback. Established by students Kit Hammonds and Angela Robinson in 1997, the show is programmed by the students union’s Arts Programme team responsible for creative professional development for students during their time at UAL. As with recent years the work represents the clear political intention of creative practice coming out of UAL and globally felt by students. Read more on this and the curatorial approach in our statement from commissioned student curator Veronica Grazioli.

Championing Future Creatives Pau Aguiló Hernandez Elaoise Benson Cherie Chun Yarden Erika Fudim “RhyanRhyan” - Rhyan Jordan Holder Hollis Hui Emmanuelle Iroakazi Amelia Johnson Jomile Kazlauskaite Janice Kei Nisa Khan Matilda Madaj-Solberg Rosie Mather Arabella Muir Ken Nakajima Nusra Nijimbere Meera Rofaeil Elliott Roy Emma Elvins Nogueira Dos Santos Tong ‘Sonia’ Shi Marina Tasca Ciana Taylor Abigail Weston Ayshe-Mira Yashin

6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52

This year the show was selected by guest judges Jamie Clifton (Editor in Chief, Vice) and Carine Harmand

(Curator of International Art, Tate) alongside Arts SU Activities Sabbatical Officer Armani Sutherland. We are also pleased to announce that Marina Tasca is the recipient of our Cass Art bursary with a £500 voucher kindly provided by Cass Art- the UK’s leading art supplier. Equally we will be announcing our Vice Vision award providing online platforming and exposure for one selected artist. Lastly, we come to you from our on-going relationship with The Koppel Project, an arts charity, gallery, and creative hub based in central London. We feel Xhibit aptly represents our work at the students union forging a daring and collaborative space which enables students to feel supported to be the artists they are currently and potentially hoping to be. Sophie Risner, Arts Programmer

Xhibit: Visions for a New World Curatorial Statement by Veronica Grazioli Given the vibrant nature of Xhibit in the UAL ecology and beyond, I am honoured and enthusiastic to curate this 25th edition. As a secondyear student curator of Xhibit, I see this exhibition as an important opportunity for artists to collaborate with their peers and technical staff, and to be able to show their work arts-su.com/xhibit

to a wider audience. It is also an opportunity for visitors: the works in the 25th edition of Xhibit, in fact, are sharp, accurate analyses, but they are also visions for a different, inclusive and sustainable world. For this reason, it is an opportunity for the audience to be inspired and enriched.

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

With Xhibit, I share goals and socio-political values, such as inclusiveness and diversity, and I recognise its legacy and commitment to supporting young and emerging artists. Furthermore, I believe in the need to make an exhibition that touches on issues such as bodies and corporeality, colonialism, heritage and the climate crisis through young voices, which can be important catalysts to change public opinion. On these premises, I have maintained my curatorial approach, which is based on dialogue. In this sense, I do not feel like a curator who, hierarchically, is ‘above’ the artists, but more like a facilitator, a mediator, situated between the artists and the different publics. As far as possible, my approach has been polyvocal. I have met the artists, tried to understand and meet their needs and communicate their works to the best of my ability. I tried to maintain and communicate what I perceived. The display, in fact, consists of several ‘cores’. Each of these presents a vision ‘for a dying world’ and ‘for a world that can change’. I have tried to achieve a precarious balance, trying to work at the margin, in the fracture, which for me – inspired by bell hooks – is always possibility and openness to change.

25th Annual Exhibition

For me Xhibit is: • Intimacy. • Loneliness. • Self-reflection. • Awareness. • The weight of cultural heritage. • The decolonial perspective • Journeys into the past and present. • Visions for a world that is dying in front of our eyes. • Visions for a new world. • An analytical gaze – sharp, but also gentle, if aware. For instance, in one of the cores the common thread is the relationship between weight and lightness, between remaining still and moving. Ciana Taylor’s video, If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry, is a crude analysis of reality, of what is around us, which if not making us laugh, makes us cry tremendously. And then there is wonder and amazement in the lightness of Kenichiro Nakajima’s Peaceful Observations, between peace and contemplation. And finally, a vision: the dance and the awareness of the body in The Dancer by Emma Elvins Nogueira Dos Santos. Furthermore, in another core, one finds several journeys to retracing one’s cultural roots and making connections. For Meera Rofaeil, as expressed in A place where I don’t belong, it was a familiar

Curatorial Statement by Veronica Grazioli puzzle to reconstruct. Her images were painted to express her feelings of disconnection towards her country and culture of origin and her family members, of whom she has no vivid memories or recollection. A process of healing, just as in the case of The Stolen Generation by Emmanuelle Iroakazi, a work that refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were removed from their families between 1910 and the 1970s. Not only that but, as the artist explains, ‘On a deeper level, the work also concerns the debate surrounding the Flora and Fauna Act, which did not classify Indigenous Australians as human beings’. The female figure dominating the centre of the painting is the artist’s grandmother, a Stolen Generation survivor. The work has deep and significant value because it shows how survivors now have descendants who still contend with the financial difficulties, educational divides and generational trauma. Finally, in the guise of vision there is Living Wheel by Marina Tasca, whose has investigated different forms of connection, emphasising that everything is interconnected. As a student researcher and young curator, working on Xhibit has been a valuable experience for me, enriching me on a human and professional level.

A few words about me I’m a Master’s research student in Exhibition Studies at Central Saint Martins, where I conduct my research through a decolonial-queer lens with the aim of understanding how to curate ethically, inclusively, accessibly, sustainably and antitokenistically. As for my professional career, I write for the print version of Exibart magazine and, as curator, I am part of a young collective and a cultural association called Line Culture. In addition to my experience in publishing, journalism and museums, I have independently curated Corpo a Corpo (Body to Body), an exhibition that developed in two editions (one a continuation of the other) and involved students from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan.

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Pau Aguiló Hernandez

Charles & Chair by Pau Aguiló Hernandez

BA Fine Art Painting - Camberwell College of Arts

p.aguilohernandez0220201@arts.ac.uk

@pauaguilo.ig

Focusing only on the surface, the title hides the real issue shown in the image. Executed with a highly corrosive technique over the raw canvas, the visual elements describe a claustrophobic situation in which a character, Charles, is locked within the piece; jailed into the squarish canvas composing his degradation at the physical and mental levels. The inflated body is filled with negativity, composed of thoughts, regrets, addictions and frustrations that have built with time. With a focus on the immediacy of the nicotine hitting his brain, Charles misses the bigger picture, falling again into the same spiral that exacerbates the interior confusion. Like Charles, most of us come from certain backgrounds where we might find ourselves without the best financial knowledge, unaware of the wide spectrum of healthy habits, closed in our immediate moments filled with dopamine impulses of all kinds, regularly stepping away from our purpose. I want to believe that most people can realise whatever their personal problem is and solve it in time. One thing is for sure: like many humble people, Charles has great difficulty escaping the picture.

Charles & Chair, 2020 Oil on canvas 180 x 176 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Elaoise Benson

Chapter 9: Church and State by Elaoise Benson

BA Fine Art - Central Saint Martins

e.benson0320191@arts.ac.uk

@ebenson_art

Referring to the colloquial phrase ‘Church and State’, often used to suggest that one should keep their work and home life separate, Benson draws on memories of growing up in the Church. Here she navigates the intersection between her parents’ divorce and her own precarious relationship to notions of faith and religiosity. The use of abstraction fragments a seemingly picturesque memory, which the artist furthers by physically breaking apart the diptych in space. Blue portals hover upon the surface of the picture plane, like porous holes or rifts in time, and a weaving attempts to bridge the gap between each panel. Yet, given its fragile nature, at any moment this ‘perfect’ construction, one’s perception of balance and serenity, could all begin to unravel.

Chapter 9: Church and State, 2021 Acrylic and oil stick on wood, nails, wool Dimensions variable 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Cherie Chun

The Sea’s Bounty by Cherie Chun

BA Fashion Design with Print - Central Saint Martins

c.chun0720181@arts.ac.uk

www.cheriechun.com

@chezzachooun

Searching for sustainable alternatives to traditional textiles, these bioplastic samples were created and developed by designer Cherie Chun as a vinyl or leather alternative for use in sculptures, accessories and garments. With their crystal-like appearance and draping plasticity, it would be easy to assume that the samples might be synthesised with traditional polymers or acrylics. In fact, made with three base components – water, vegetable glycerine and agar – these textiles can be adapted, texturised and strengthened in several ways depending on their use.

The Sea’s Bounty, 2022 Water, vegetable glycerine and agar Dimensions variable 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Yarden Erika Fudim

Untitled by Yarden Erika Fudim

BA Fine Art - Central Saint Martins

yfudim@gmail.com

www.yardenfudim.com

@Yardenfudim

War, money, death; the leftovers, records and signs of what once was. War is a political game that wastes time, money and human life. The finished picture, Untitled, is a reduced version of reality, becoming abstracted, becoming transcendental. It is the death count of the pandemic, the representation of people as numbers and statistics; anonymous as they are put in a body bag, they are no more a person but a shell of one. An image of human history; a sea of the dead. 13

Untitled, 2021 Acrylic on MDF board 75 x 75 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

“RhyanRhyan” - Rhyan Jordan Holder

MINJOYRITY by “RhyanRhyan” - Rhyan Jordan Holder BA Fine Art - Chelsea College of Art and Design

r.holder0820201@arts.ac.uk

@rhyanrhyanart

MINJOYRITY is a visual representation of the presence of Black British people during the Victorian era, as well as representing my experience being of both Bajan and Dominican descent and growing up in London. From the 1830s onwards, members of the Black community have often been considered ‘minorities’ in England. MINJOYRITY explores the Afro-Caribbean diaspora as a symbol of finding ‘JOY’ within the Black community as collective consciousness links us to each other’s experiences and to our ancestors. 15

MINJOYRITY, 2022 Digital illustration 84.1 x 118.8 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Hollis Hui

Choose Your Freedom by Hollis Hui

BA Fine Art - Central Saint Martins

h.hui1220181@arts.ac.uk

www.hollishui.wixsite.com/hollis-portfolio

@hollis.hh

Choose Your Freedom is a virtual simulation experience involving psychedelic visual imagery of a virtual space. The work is designed in the form of a gamelike structure, concentrating on two doors, each portraying a representation of freedom. The work relies heavily on choice and interpretation: by using fiction to comment on non-fictional concepts of humanity, viewers are invited to interpret what it means to be free in response to human existence. The use of a virtual space provides the audience with an immersive and engaging experience, resulting in a contrast in the relationship between humans and technology. The human-like voice accompanying the video not only creates a boundary between illusion and reality, but also addresses the intensification of mood and atmosphere. In this work, the artist intends to reveal hidden psychological responses reflected from humans who are too afraid of facing these issues in the real world.

Choose Your Freedom, 2021 Video, colour and sound 3 mins 25 secs 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Emmanuelle Iroakazi

The Stolen Generation by Emmanuelle Iroakazi

Media Communications - London College of Communication

e.iroakazi0220201@arts.ac.uk

www.emmanuelle.page

The Stolen Generation refers to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were removed from their families between 1910 and the 1970s. The Stolen Generation, as they are known, resulted from an attempt by Australian federal and state government agencies and church missions to ‘breed out’ the Aboriginal race through a policy of assimilation. The native plants and nature surrounding the Aboriginal children create a familiar discomfort as the plants are aesthetically pleasing but dramatically contrast with the aggressive white silhouettes. On a deeper level, the work also concerns the debate surrounding the Flora and Fauna Act, which did not classify Indigenous Australians as human beings. The woman in the illustration is my grandmother; the arm on her wrist shows the lasting impact on the Stolen Generation, even long after. According to not-for-profit organisation Australians Together, the Stolen Generation experience high rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and suicide, and poor health and socioeconomic outcomes. In addition, Stolen Generation survivors, like my grandmother, now have descendants who still contend with the financial difficulties, educational divide and generational trauma.

The Stolen Generation, 2022 Framed giclée print on paper 76.2 x 50.8 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Amelia Johnson

Boris the Clown by Amelia Johnson

BA Fine Art - Central Saint Martins

asjohnson1999@gmail.com

ameliajohnsonart.com

@meelworm

Boris the Clown is a satirical sculpture highlighting the public perception of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson. By opting for a miniature, semi-realist depiction of the Prime Minister, the artist creates a representation that rests on the line between realism and caricature; this, in turn, carries its own satirical weight. It is through this balancing act that the work plays with the tension of comedy and tragedy, much like the iconographic tendencies of a clown. Despite being a year since the work was created, it remains an accurate reflection of the political persona Johnson has projected through his recent deceptions.

Boris the Clown, 2020–21 Papier-mâché, paper clay, acrylic 91.44 cm X 46 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Jomile Kazlauskaite

Under Her Skin by Jomile Kazlauskaite

MA Fashion Photography - London College of Fashion

me@jomile.eu

www.jomile.eu

@jomilekazlauskaite

Jomile Kazlauskaite grew up in Lithuania, a small country with a population of around three million people at the time. She says: ‘My teenage years were highly impacted by a certain body ideal portrayed in the mass media and I was far from it. Society’s judgement of me as overweight led to a number of body image issues in my later years.’ Under Her Skin is the artist’s way of overcoming her struggles by sharing her own stories and those of other women. It explores women’s relationship with their bodies and aims to create a safe space for women to share their individual stories, while bringing attention to female body representation in the fashion industry, cultural beauty standards, body politics and society’s pressure to present a certain version of oneself. Through this project the artist is exploring the notions of self, beauty, power and confidence, as well as discussing identity and how it can be affected by the views of society and industry.

Under Her Skin, October 2021 C-type print mounted on 3mm display card 48 × 60cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Janice Kei

The Night of the Solitude by Janice Kei

BA Contemporary Media Cultures - London College of Communication

j.kei0320211@arts.ac.uk

www.janicekei.com

@perdurablepain/@janice.kei

So he sits there, alone and privy wishing for somebody, anybody but the lights continue to dim and the air starts getting heavy. Still he prays so dearly until, finally, it drains him. This is a project that calls to the emotions of isolation, loneliness and longing, with an enduring vintage kitsch feel.

The Night of the Solitude, 2020 Photographs, blanket base Dimensions variable 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Nisa Khan

From Rags to Bitches to Riches (Sir Ochterlony & His Bibis) by Nisa Khan

Painting - Camberwell College of Art

n.khan0820201@arts.ac.uk

www.nisakhan.com

@nisakhanart

Mujra: a South Asian style of performance, which was once sophisticated, elegant and considered an elite art form. At its peak within India’s Mughal empire, these female performers (Tawaif’s) were exempt from the normal rules of society such as, purdah and marriage. The demise of the Tawaif and marginalisation of Mujra is a result of British colonialism. From Rags to Bitches to Riches is a bridge between contemporary and historical Mujra. The artist’s body cites the crude and masculine gestures of Pakistani Mujra whilst depicting the historical story of Mubarak Begum; a Tawaif who despite becoming the favoured wife/concubine of Major General Sir David Ochterlony, was not deemed respectable. Despite their (underground) global fanbase today’s Pakistani performers are exploited, face heavy censorship and are often the object of ridicule. By repositioning Mujra in the British arts context, the work aims to centralise and reelevate the status of Mujra and its performers.

From Rags to Bitches to Riches (Sir Ochterlony & His Bibis), 2021 Mixed media installation, digital print on vinyl, ceramics, plastic foliage, rhinestones, metal jewellery, card 600 x 230 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Matilda Madaj-Solberg

Mafish by Matilda Madaj-Solberg

Painting - Camberwell College of Arts

m.madaj-solberg0620211@arts.ac.uk

@easypeel_collective

Fish regulate their body temperature by living outside of direct human control. They don’t need to seek out external sources of heat or shelter; eat the flesh but leave the bones and the skin.

A portrayal of daily life accounts: surroundings, sensations and thoughts to highlight muddled encounters experienced on a daily basis, and the quickness in which those subjects appear and re-appear throughout the day and how information, visible or invisible, gets interpreted and internalised in everyday life. Mafish represents and explores feelings of identity depended on our sense of the persistence of the ‘I’ and the ‘me’ over time, exploring the human condition encased by our own spaces and possessions. Isolated, disconnected, discontinuous material signifiers that fail to link up into a coherent sequence.

Mafisk, 2021 Installation, moving image projection on painting Dimensions variable 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Rosie Mather

In Loving Memory of the High Street by Rosie Mather

Graphic Communication Design - Central Saint Martins

rosiemather1234@yahoo.co.uk

@rozzystardust

In Loving Memory of the High Street looks at the decline of the British high street due to the market dominance of e-commerce giants such as Amazon. The shrine mourns the loss of companies, such as Toys R Us, which now live only as nostalgic reminders of the internet’s mighty power. Through poetry, I reminisce on the sense of community created by the high street and how times have changed as technology has evolved.

In Loving Memory of the High Street, 2021 Mixed media installation 90 x 90 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Arabella Muir

MISS YOU LOTS, LOVE YOU XX by Arabella Muir

BA Fine Art - Chelsea College of Arts

a.muir0520211@arts.ac.uk

@bxllemuirart

MISS YOU LOTS, LOVE YOU XX explores the connections between crochet and family. Arabella Muir aims to express emotions that are hard to say in words, as a message for people close to her, so that the work speaks for itself. She says: ‘Textiles allow me to feel the warmth of home, while relating to the women role models in my life. Ideas of continuous female labour remind me of the hooking motions of crochet.’ In giving this art form a position in the art world, Muir hopes for it to be taken seriously while maintaining its practicality and homeliness. Crochet is an art form with its own community, taught and shared among friends and family, and continually evolving. The artist intends for the work to convey this sense of community and to welcome others to find their own comfort. She says: ‘The viewer’s experience is very important. I want something very personal to me to be easily adaptable to others’ experiences so that we don’t feel alone. I believe that textiles, in particular crochet and knitting, have the power to bind people together.’

MISS YOU LOTS, LOVE YOU XX, 2022 Crochet, various yarns 240 x 150 cm approx. 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Ken Nakajima

Peaceful Observations by Ken Nakajima

MA Performance Design & Practice - Central Saint Martins

k.nakajima0620201@arts.ac.uk

www.nakajimaken.squarespace.com

Peaceful Observations is a sculptural piece that imitates the movement of something organic yet synthetic at the same time. Ken Nakajima offers this instruction: ‘If you truly want to enjoy the work, put your phone down first, just observe and let it draw you in. And then take your phone out and do whatever you feel best to capture it digitally.’

Peaceful Observations, 2021 Plastic sheet, industrial fan 400 x 200 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Nusra Nijimbere

Gaze Back Home by Nusra Nijimbere

BA Textile Design - Central Saint Martins

n.nijimbere0420171@arts.ac.uk

@Nusra.n

Gaze Back Home is a material response to how migration and movement leave physical marks both within our culture and its materiality. It is an investigation into how the diaspora are able to translate and preserve our history. The visual references to memory and identity are an enquiry into how the colonial gaze is in a constant, ongoing dialogue with how we perceive and are perceived. The female essence in the project is an attempt to explore and disrupt the traditional ‘gaze’ and the power of looking – to gaze back. 37

Gaze Back Home, 2021 Mixed media Dimensions variable 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Meera Rofaeil

A place where I don’t belong by Meera Rofaeil

Foundation in Art and Design - Central Saint Martins

m.rofaeil0620211@arts.ac.uk

@meerarofaeil

A place where I don’t belong is a series of ten photographs of the artist and her family in Egypt, where their ethnic origins lie. The images have been painted over in oil paints and gouache in order to try and convey the artist’s personal feelings of disconnection towards a place she does not remember, family members who are unfamiliar and a culture that feels unknown. 39

A place where I don’t belong, 2021 Oil paint and gouache on photographs 15.2 x 15.2 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Elliot Roy

A Treasure and a Trap by Elliott Roy

MA Fine Art - Chelsea College of Arts

e.roy0720211@arts.ac.uk

elliott-roy.com

@andrenostalghia

These are the myths: All fathers have sons. All sons resemble their fathers. All fathers watch over their sons, so they get robust, as their fathers were, and eventually become strong fathers themselves. (A syllogism?) There is a book by Roland Barthes called Mythologies and another by Alejandro Jodorowsky called Metagenealogy: Self-Discovery through Psychomagic and the Family Tree. 41

A Treasure and a Trap, 2021 Oil on canvas 50 x 33 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Emma Elvins Nogueria Dos Santos

The Dancer by Emma Elvins Nogueria Dos Santos Fine Art Painting - Camberwell College of Arts

e.elvinsnogueiradossantos0320201@arts.ac.uk

@emmasantosartist

The Dancer depicts a figure dancing among other fragmented figures in the dark, suggesting either the euphoria of a lively nightclub or party, or the loneliness of dancing alone with the ghostly figments of your imagination. Emma Elvins Nogueria Dos Santos is interested in where opposites such as expansiveness and emptiness, colour and darkness, and loneliness and oneness intersect. Santos explains: ‘In part, the work reflects the loneliness of London – a city so full it can feel empty even if you are surrounded by people. On top of this, I have come into my queerness since moving to London, which has been bittersweet – there is a sense of community, love and life that comes with being part of the queer community, particularly here, that can feel euphoric when you are in that safe bubble. However, there is all the isolation, pain and fear that comes when that bubble bursts.’

The Dancer, 2021 Digital print on aluminium 50.8 x 76.2 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Tong ‘Sonia’ Shi

I love you back by Tong ‘Sonia’ Shi

Grad DIp Interior Design - Chelsea College of Arts

t.shi0220202@arts.ac.uk

@soniashi2018

As people are get increasingly anxious about intimacy, especially during the pandemic, hugging becomes unfamiliar. People find it easier to get attached to an object. This device dislocates the relationship between people and object. Tong ‘Sonia’ Shi says: ‘I embrace an object as a person, but at the same time, I also become an object.’

I love you back, 2021 Jersey fabric, fibre filling 150 x 80 x 10 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Marina Tasca

Living Wheel by Marina Tasca

MA Illustration - Camberwell College of Arts

m.tasca0420201@arts.ac.uk

@desenhodamarina

Living Wheel is a drawing that informs and celebrates different forms of connection. Everything is interlinked and influences each other. As human beings we establish multiple connections in our daily lives – with other people, with things and objects, animals, plants, our inner activities and imagination. Connecting elements in a wheel of life, the drawing intends to make the nets and signs that form an existence to come together and become visible. This work also functioned as an illustration for an independent magazine called WIR, produced in Basel, Switzerland. The project was developed by ten young artists and gathered works on the theme of ‘us’ (‘wir’, in German).

Living Wheel, 2021 Watercolour, coloured pencils, gouache, graphite on paper 29.7 x 42 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Ciana Taylor

If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry by Ciana Taylor

Fine Art - Chelsea College of Arts

c.taylor0320201@arts.ac.uk

www.cianataylor.com

@asst_astic/@Ciana_taylor

Originating as a US Department of Defense project in the 1960s, by the 21st century the internet was an exciting prospect of global unity and selfexpression. MySpace has now come and gone, the Patriot Act passed and TikTokers like Addison Rae have reached teenage stardom. The cyberworld has existed as an ever-present entity for a whole generation with no experience of life pre-web. 48

In these last 20 years, our eyes have grown used to graphic footage and fastpaced imagery, produced rapidly, constantly recycled and widely accessible. As online platforms continue to evolve, our collective state of being has quickly transformed in response. The world wide web is both polarising and unifying, stimulating and anaesthetising. Adopting online aesthetics, If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry is an amalgamation of found footage and the artist’s own audio and visuals, exploring the complexities of overstimulation in the post-internet era, specifically concerning Gen-Z, for whom meme culture has become a chaotic form of catharsis while the future grows increasingly depressing.

If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry Video, colour and sound 2 mins 23 secs 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Abigail Weston

Alleyways by Abigail Weston

BA Textile Design - Central Saint Martins

info@abigailweston.co.uk www.abigailweston.co.uk @abigail_e_weston

Developed during the Covid-19 pandemic, this work takes inspiration from the alleyways that were local to the artist’s home at the time and formed a part of her local exercise walks. In the circumstances, Weston had the time and space to observe these often forgotten and taken-for-granted pieces of land. She found herself drawn to the exaggerated perspectives of shape in the alleyways and to the illusion of space getting narrower and narrower. She was particularly drawn to the fence panels, which appeared to reduce in size as the spaces narrowed, and was amazed by the unexpected but beautiful selection of colours to be found, with greens, purples and oranges evident upon observation. In all, the alleyways were a rich source of inspiration for the development of textile pieces. This work forms part of a wider knitted and woven collection of interior installation artworks, which were developed in response to Weston’s research into these alleyways.

Alleyways, 2020/21 Knitted yarn (some printed with paint) 70 x 32.5 cm Work photographed by Anselm Ebulue 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Ayshe-Mira Yashin

Flow of the Moon Goddess by Ayshe-Mira Yashin

Foundation in Art and Design - Camberwell College of Arts

a.yashin0620211@arts.ac.uk

www.ayshemira.com

@illustrationwitch

Flow of the Moon Goddess is a painting created using the artist’s menstrual blood, with the intention of empowering an audience of women/people who menstruate. Menstruation cycles are associated with gendered discrimination; having or not having a period can have a huge bearing on how women are treated, including women who do not have periods, for example some trans women. When women become pregnant and stop having periods, they are treated as less able to participate in public life, and when they stop having periods due to menopause, they are treated as old and no longer sexually attractive. All other types of blood come from violence, unlike menstrual blood. This begs the question of why period blood is considered taboo, almost cross-culturally, while blood drawn from violence is consistently exposed in the media, sometimes without censorship. Menstrual cycles are intrinsically linked with gendered experiences and using period blood to paint renders that visible. By painting with period blood, the artist hopes to de-stigmatise a bodily fluid that is completely natural and should not be treated otherwise.

Flow of the Moon Goddess, 2021 Menstrual blood and ink on paper 30 x 42 cm 25th Annual Exhibition

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

Thank You! Programming and ensuring Xhibit happens every year would not be possible without the commitment, understanding and belief of Arts SU staff, student staff and sabbatical officers. Alongside this we would also like to thank the following people for their time, effort, and support of the programme: Carine Harmand (Curator of International Art at Tate) & Jamie Clifton (Editor in Chief, Vice). Mark Cass, Liesel Thomas and all at Cass Art for their on-going support through their yearly artist bursary.

Our venue Rebecca Marcus-Monks and Ellen Taylor and all at The Koppel Project.

This catalogue was lovingly copy edited by Susannah Worth- who you can find here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannahworth/ and contactable SusannahWorthEditorial@gmail.com. We thank Richard Unwin and all at NET Gallery for the digital scan and promotion. The exhibition was installed by Will Marriott and Sean Millington. Our articulate and compassionate student curator Veronica Grazioli. Lastly and never least- we thank the 24 fantastic UAL student practices who have enabled us to curate and present their work, have followed us diligently through the process and joined a 25 year old exhibition programme legacy. Shop the collection: all artists were asked whether they wished to sell their work as part of the exhibition- being represented by our sales platform Made in Arts, London. 25th Annual Exhibition

arts-su.com/xhibit

Xhibit 2022 | Championing Future Creatives

25th Annual Exhibition