Elizabeth Kwant
Mediterranea
Preview 24th November 6:30 - 8:30pm
25th - 3rd December 12 - 4pm
Open by appointment Monday - Thursday
Elizabeth Kwant is a British Artist working with the themes of identity, representation,
and migration. Her ongoing body of work "Mediterranea" began in 2014 prompted by
the onset of the European migrant crisis harnesses appropriated media images with
specific reference to the locations of the Morocco- Melilla and Syria - Turkey border.
Kwants bold and colourful screen prints playfully reinterpret the contemporary
socio-political crisis often focusing upon a central character who's taken out of their
context. We are looking for help with invigilation if anyone one is available to help out.
If so please would you just be able to let me know what date you can do. Dynamic
compositions are executed with newspaper-like halftone quality; bodies contorted,
are edited and re-represented. Figures embody positions of victory, aspiration,
resignation and defeat. Brightly coloured backgrounds are carefully hand painted
using everyday household paint colours, chosen specifically for the idealised titles
"Utopia Beckons, Fare Thee Well, No Boundaries, Adrift at Sea, California Dreaming,
Sundown, Golden Rays, English Primrose..." The resulting body of work opens up
tensions and paradoxes between the subject and their designated titles. Kwant
speaks of this tension as 'opening up a space to question wider narratives, how
identity is constructed and ultimately how history is recorded.'
www.elizabethkwant.com