Get The Dark Out

About

* Content Warning– drink, drugs, prison, violence, death *

Dudley: Mostly I remember as a kid feeling like scum. That’s what I was called at school when people found out my dad was a dealer. And when he was sent to prison. I’ve been demoralised, humiliated and groomed by people with much more power than me throughout my childhood and after having my home taken, I’ve had nothing stable because I was dependent on someone who relied on illegal labour to survive.

Lisa: I was called ‘disease’, because I was scruffier than everyone else, dirtier. I’d never invite friends back to my council flat, I was ashamed. But I was proud of my dad, he was raising me on his own and doing the best he could. My mother had issues with drink and drugs, and issues with motherhood, she wasn’t around. I told school friends she was dead. It was easier that way.

I thought I’d be the same as her, due to my drinking. But I worked hard on myself and now I’m four years sober and ready to be a mother. I’m finding it hard to conceive though, having just gone through IVF, twice. I’m not ready to mourn my mother and her legacy in me. This is brutal. Loss of motherhood from both ends is grinding me down. I also began to blame the prison system for punishing my partner for behaviours in his drug addiction, for forcing us apart in my last fertile years. This residency is helping me to work stuff out.

Dudley: Sometimes I can’t begin to explain. I live in a different reality to most people. PTSD or as I prefer to call it, a war. At the same time, I wanna be open because other people being candid helped so much.

During the residency, whilst exploring threads of sobriety trauma recovery, my dad relapsed and died. Now he lives with his ancestors. The addict alcoholic ones. Next to those who died in custody. And those who died homeless.

-----

About

Artcore Gallery is pleased to present Get the Dark Out, an exhibition by Nottingham-based artists Lisa Selby and Dudley. Lisa and Dudley were selected for one of three Collaborative Residency Bursaries in partnership with New Midland Group, which was aimed at pairs looking to work collaboratively to develop and deliver a project.

Lisa and Dudley were in residence at Artcore from August – October, working together on a new series of work with a focus on changing public perceptions around addiction and incarceration, helping to connect people who are affected by these issues.

The artists chose to use this period of time to care for themselves through practice, to then help others to process, reflect and make – making trauma count in society.

About the Residency

This series of residencies focuses on interdisciplinary research, and offers studio space and mentorship for pairs looking to work collaboratively to develop and deliver a project. Within this residency we are focusing on supporting creative research, interrogating processes of artistic production and how we can better understand and articulate the value of artist development.

This residency has been supported by the New Midland Group Development Programme. New Midland Group is a consortium of three artist-led organisations located in Nottingham: Backlit, One Thoresby Street and Primary.

Private View: Thursday 4th November, 6-8pm (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exhibition-opening-get-the-dark-out-tickets-182585176177 )

www.artcoregallery.org.uk

www.newmidlandgroup.co.uk