Within the Around is open at Camden Art Centre from the 17th July - 23rd August
Within the Around is the culmination of a year-long programme of workshops led by Henny Shaw, Immanuel Adelowo and me in collaboration with Mya, Aquil, Mwenza, Thomas, Fabeha, Sadik, Abdi, Ruben, Amen, Muqadas, Eneki, Hamza and Torres from Swiss Cottage School and The Village School.
Throughout the year, the group has drawn inspiration and resources from Camden Art Centre's garden, the weather and its plant and animal inhabitants.
Using grass, branches, mud and berries for dyes and mark-making, the site itself became a material. In the Drawing Studio, the group has collectively explored tie-dye, mark-making, stencils, ceramics and sculpture, combining material-led processes to form a shared artistic language.
Using grass, branches, mud and berries for dyes and mark-making, the site itself became a material. In the Drawing Studio, the group has collectively explored tie-dye, mark-making, stencils, ceramics and sculpture, combining material-led processes to form a shared artistic language.
The exhibition's title, Within the Around, references these dual sites of experimentation as well as the repeated physical techniques of wrapping, taping and tying that shape and hold the work. These overlapping processes and collective decision-making extend beyond the studio.
Through the year, pieces were installed in the garden that invited chance contributions from the outside world to develop the work further. The artwork here is shown rain-soaked, sun-faded, grass-stained, trodden and nibbled, reflecting organic and recreated signs of growth and decay. This process of 'weathering' allowed a range of non-human contributors, from slugs and foxes to birds and mice, to participate.
A wildlife camera the artists installed in the garden captured some of these larger collaborators and inspired the Foley soundscape made with the pupils. Featuring dog barks, bird song and wolf howls, the looping audio piece speaks to our mutual connections to the world beyond the gallery, beyond the garden. Around and around, within and outside.
Photo © Hydar Dewachi
