Make Ends Meet
About the Exhibit
Social and political art has an important place in the canon of 20th and 21st art and while you can find it in museums, galleries and in the streets but less so in our homes. SEAS, which is an artist-led organisation that promotes such art through exhibitions, discussions and events, decided to take another step in this direction. From November 2020, we are collaborating with artists who produce social and political art and sell it on their website or other online platforms. And there is no better time to do so before the festive season and in these difficult times when artists, most of whom are self-employed, find it difficult to make ends meet.
For what is the start of a year-long project we are showing John Walmsley who photographically documents the protests of Guildford Art Students in the late sixties; Richard Lee's political posters for Rock Against Racism; Helen Stratford and Lawrence Bradby's 'The Day of the Duck' (2018) a book exploring Englishness and the division between the urban and rural and migration; Fred Fabre's exploration of visual liberation using abstracted painting; Daniel Gardiner's punk visual language tackling mental health, climate change and socio-political injustices; Japo Okworobu's gestural paintings questioning the collective pressure to be happy when in society; Patrick Macaulay's epistolary influence translates into visual stories of socio-political injustices presented in the streets; David Westwood's use of painting as a mode of therapy for his own mental wellbeing; and O. Yemi Tubi (MOYAT) who use of floral iconography serves as a metaphor for the ups and lows of life.
This online exhibition is the start of a year-long project. From December 2020 to December 2021 we will accept new proposals from visual artists, photographers, graphic designers, and craftivists covering issues of racial/social justice, human rights, the environment, LGBTQ+ rights, feminist work and/or intersectionality.