In the Field

About

IN THE FIELD is an exhibition of large-scale monoprints and sculptures by Islington based artist Yael Roberts. The work is presented at this particular moment in the Jewish calendar, in the lead-up and through the High Holidays, exploring relevant themes of repentance, return, and renewal.

The exhibition speaks to the teaching of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812 Lithuania), that during the Jewish lunar month of Elul, “the King is in the field”. Unlike the rest of the year when the divine is far, in Elul, we have a special channel to the divine, but only if we leave what we know and go into the field to meet that which will transform us. The work understands this concept literally - we need to go into the wild to find return. In dreams, in landscape, in clouds, we find ourselves, we find our calling.

The work is also based on the poem in the High Holiday liturgy, unitaneh tokef, which speaks to the mortality of humans in the face of the divine. The titles of the pieces “Like dust flowering, like a dream fleeting” “Like a shadow passing, like a cloud, alighting” and “We are like broken shards, 1-12” are all imaginative translations by the artist taken from this poem about our fate as individuals, community, species.

“Last(in’) Spring”, “Last(in’) Autumn”, and “(The) Last Spring Diverted”, are part of a series of work printed from large-scale found wood, seeking to understand human nature in the face of climate catastrophe. They are relief monoprints with drawn imagery (using the technique pioneered by Gaugin). The layering of meaning and imagery in the work depicts a frequency, and calls for a centring amidst the energetic and emotional field we find ourselves in at this time of year as the seasons turn and as new paths emerge.

Yael Roberts was born in 1992 in St. Louis, USA and lives and works in London, UK at Cubitt Studios. She holds an MA in Visual Arts: Printmaking from Camberwell College of Arts. Recent shows include Cubitt 30 at Victoria Miro Gallery, London (and online at Vortic.art), Manchester Jewish Museum, Lumen Crypt Gallery, and Fish Factory Arts. She has received a Round 14 Developing Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England and is part of the new Radical European Jewish Calendar for 5783. Awards include Pauper's Press Prize and London Art Events Prize (Festival of Print 2019) and Oficina Bartolomeu dos Santos Residency Award (July 2017).

@yael_roberts www.yaelroberts.com yael.roberts@gmail.com