Once Upon A Time In Hastings . Kathleen Fox Sally Meakins , Jo Welsh

About

Kathleen Fox,' Zoo Des Refuses '

"My work here is concerned with the animals rejected from being put on display in the historical zoo on Hastings pier (disbaned in 1974/5) and the imagined joyous scenarios that may have followed on their realisation of this chance exclution."

'Memory'

"Polyester resin cast from the steel supports of Hastings pier, which was built in the early 1870s. my original clay impressions were taken in 2014 during the pier's extensive renovations which included cutting, removing and replacing much of the weaked structure. These are memories of part of that removed structure."

Sally Meakins, 'Transitional Beings'

"Transitional Beings is a mix of archaeological hoax and local myth. The work in this show is partly generated by Charles Dawson's' archaeological hoaxes, the Piltdown Man (his transitional man) being one of many. Dawson was a co-founder of Hastings Museums Assciation and many of his 'finds' were located in Hastings, St Leonards and Bexhill. Looking into local myths, I found they were mostly about things that come from or are in the sea. Taking this as my starting point I started to think about creating my own beings. This work is the result of that process."

Jo Welsh, 'Following Jack' 

"The streets we walk contain and give off their history- sometimes we choose to listen and connect. I find I have been walking the same street as a Jack the Ripper suspect, in Whitechapel, East london, New York and now Hastings. 

George Chapman (Severin Klosowski) a barber surgeon from Poland, ran a barber shop in the East End and eventually in George Street Hastings. He then went on to slowly poison his three "wives" having acquired the Tartar- emetic poison from a chemist at 66 The High Street. George Godley, the arresting Detective, was convinced they had final caught Jack the Ripper.

My work follows that journey."