Decipher

About

D E C I P H E R Surface Gallery, Nottingham 8th — 19th October 2013 Surface Gallery is proud to present ‘D E C I P H E R', an exhibition featuring the work of five artists from various social, geographical and religious backgrounds. Each artist has been required to provide a written text from their cultural context in exchange for another artist, whose identity is foreign to their own. From this exchange, Luya Wang from China, Ellis Sharpe of Eastern European Jewish descent, Ernest Pujol from Barcelona, Ela Ward from Israel and Melanie-Jane Jakubson of English-Polish descent, unfold a cultural dialogue amongst their practices. The provider of the text places their heritage and history in a vulnerable position, allowing an ‘outsider' to re-evaluate and interrogate their background and beliefs. The purpose behind this exchange is to prompt unexpected associations through their personal, culturally-inherited filters of understanding. ‘D E C I P H E R' acts as an exercise of empathy, surrendering to a foreign identity as a conscious and respectful attempt at comprehending an unfamiliar culture. The exhibition launches on the 8th October and will showcase the work that the artists have produced in response to the experiment.