CLASSifications

About

CLASSifications delves into the complex realm of class and identity, bringing together four local, national and international artists for the first time with a group of new and pre-existing work.

Class is a complex system. It is often depicted in abstract and subjective ways, difficult to visualise or comprehend in tangible terms. Class is represented through counterintuitive expressions of objects as a means to talk about one’s identity. The artworks offer a rich tapestry of often celebratory, explorative and surprising methods to talk about disability rights, the diaspora, craftivism, play, queerness and the family archive.

This expansive exhibition gathers four artists whose work has never been presented together, working with objects to explore how we impart them with meaning and classify them, and in doing so, become a metaphor for how class functions in our society.

Featuring a collection of thought-provoking object-based works by artists, the exhibition will invite audiences to be amongst these objects, reflecting on the lives they (mis)represent and question how class is embedded, marketed and co-opted by the reigning narratives. It will further encourage visitors to contemplate what class looks like nationally and internationally? How does class intersect with identity? and how does class affect the way people consume, make and talk about art?

About the artists

Jasleen Kaur is an artist making with the slurry of life. Raised amidst betrayal, secrecy and banished outsiders, her work is to make sense of what is out of view or withheld. She has been nominated for 2024’s Turner Prize.

Dinu Li was born in Hong Kong and is an interdisciplinary artist working with moving image, photography, sculptural assemblages and performance.

Jamila Prowse is an artist and writer, propelled by curiosity and a desire to understand herself through making. She is an active participant in a rich and growing contemporary disabled artistic community.

Joshua Raffell is a Hampshire-based artist from a working class and canal gypsy background. He is a champion of diversity, and his work is influenced by his life experiences.