'As we longed for a home that did not exist'

About

The exhibition brings together the selected work of a group of seven artists, who although placed within the context of contemporary ideas, have used traditional forms of painting, drawing and printmaking to interpret meaning in conceptions of childhood recollection and in the conflicting realities that exist within our subconscious. It is this recollective memory within our unconscious mind, which the artists' explore through retrospective imagery: The replaying of our personal history can manifest itself as self-deception, duplicity or a preconditioned narrative, an idealised romanticism, a longing for home, a moment of sudden clarity or insight... and when our lives are played out within the public sphere they are also open to manipulation or misinterpretation- reinvented and retold, fragments cemented together to form new realities. The recollective memory lies dormant in the subconscious, until activated by a desire for recall. It is not just triggered by the replaying of personal experiences, but by a colour, a feeling, a symbol or reference of the past. These signifiers of memory encourage a response from the artist, to explore concepts through a range of stimuli: photography, objects, fabrics, the built and natural environment, lines and marks. The work at times has an uneasy and maudlin quality, as the feelings of longing and conflict emerge in a place of discomfort. The work reaches beyond the realms of everyday experience and looks at realities that exist within the human imagination and psyche. It asks the spectator to question processes of self-reflection within personal narratives and to look beyond everyday images as true representations of authenticity.