| [ D I S C U R S I V E S P A C E S ] | Residency project | Artist Sahjan Kooner

The [ Discursive spaces ] residency project is an annual 6 month program of mentoring and engagement between the physical and philosophical spaces in which our local communities are creating and therefore contributing to its ever expanding [ spaces within spaces ] in our city.   

| 29th May 2020 |

Join us at 6pm on our website to view a video tour and interview with artist, photographic documentation and an essay on the research themes from Nathaniel Grant. 

At 7pm you can join us on Zoom for a live stream from the gallery and a Q and A with the artist. 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/7851748938

Meeting ID: 785 174 8938

| Artist statement |

Work Tiltle;

 

52° 35' 28.9320'' N, 2° 6' 38.6928'' W

30° 54' 3.4740'' N, 75° 51' 26.1972'' E

A series of floor based works which contain films developed over the course of the residency. The films are a culmination of an intensive research period which contained oral testimonies, forensic reconstructions of memories and physical/digital production. The filmic body of work explores how memories move across time and space and draws questions around prosthetic memory, architecture, politics of place, domestic life and marginalised voices.

| Artists Bio |

Sahjan is an early career artist filmmaker who makes films and installations which explore memory, trauma and material violence in relationship to place. Their family are migrants to the UK from India and moved to England in the 1960’s, the conversations of loss and mourning form an integral part of my practice. They always think and operate within a questioning of the autobiographical/personal/political, seeking to understand how the matrixes of these shape everyday life. 

Sahjan has been increasingly exploring ideas around intergenerational trauma in the Indian diaspora, and they are currently developing a film and installation for a solo and group presentation entitled ‘Yādadāśata’, which explores transmissions of knowledge in the Indian diaspora.

| About the project |   

|[ H E T E R O T O P I A S ] |01/01 - 01/08 | 2020 Five West Midlands based artists have been chosen for a paid residency to produce a solo show in response to community engagement and research of ‘Heterotopia’s’. Each artist will undertake a one month residency in our gallery and studio spaces, where the research will inform an artistic outcome in the form of a solo exhibition at the end of the month. The process, research and outcomes will be presented as an academic publication – in collaboration with writer in residence Nathaniel Grant - that encapsulates all five artist’s journey investigating the spaces and engaging in community discourse regarding the historical, cultural and political context of the spaces in the city.   

​Each artist will engage with a local space and its frequent inhabitants or lack thereof. These heterotopias or non-spaces will inform the research and the output of the final works. This can take shape in any form the artist wishes, through artistic interpretation in any medium, discussion groups, interviews, workshops or documentation etc. ​   

Seven other artists have been invited to contribute to the publication and a final group show at Wolverhampton Art Gallery to present a narrative between 'the in-between' and what that means in our current climate.  

Jayne Murray – January with a show on the 24th   

Thomas J Brown – February with a show on the 21st   

David Checkley – March with a show on the 20th  

Remi Andrews – April with a show on the 24th   

Sahjan Kooner – May with a show on the 29th 

A online and printed publication will be released July 3rd 6pm.

| THE [ S P A C E S ] IN-BETWEEN | Wolverhampton Art Gallery show | Date to be confirmed 2020   

Artists showcasing are:   Jayne Murray, Thomas J Brown, David Checkley, Remi Andrews, Sahjan Kooner, Fred Hubble, Tariq Evans, Charlotte Dunn, Helen Grundy,  Jackie Sanderson,  Theresa Bradbury/  

​Documentation Apex Pro Media | Archived RJB Digital Archive 

Supported by Wolverhampton City Council and Arts Council England