The Depositary
Freehold Studio
Brighton Fringe Festival 2013
‘The Depositary’, a collaborative exhibition created by artists Susan Keshet and Elaine Bewley, is inspired by memory – our ability to remember, and the way our memories change with hindsight. The exhibition is concerned with how reliable our memories are and how they are altered and worn by the passage of time.
Located in a narrow backstreet, just up from the busy Vogue Gyratory in Brighton, the Freehold Studio consists of workshops and a beautifully presented little white cube gallery space. The works exhibited in ‘The Depositary’ are both created and curated by Keshet and Bewley, and combine emotive installation art with understated, yet poignant paintings commissioned specifically for the Fringe Festival. The exhibition ask us to question - in the case of Keshet’s work - whether ‘place’ can trigger a memory, and with Bewley’s work, how memory is enshrined in objects and photographs.
Keshet’s work explores the idea of experiencing space and place and whether this is a subjective, or an objective experience. Many of her paintings are developments of sketch-book drawings produced during travels, and are reminiscent of that hazy, comfortable feeling that many memories produce, often regardless of whether the initial physical experience was actually an enjoyable one – or, as is more often the case, an insignificant one.
The latest paintings by Keshet, which are displayed in the exhibition, were inspired by a desert trip made by the ‘Wives Club of Aden’ in the Yemen in 1966. Elegant figures are escorted by private planes and jeeps into the heart of the desert. Without having been there personally, the viewer is transported to a time of simplicity, elegance, and the heat of sun on skin. The works provoke a false-memory in the mind of the viewer – we are there, boarding the plane, or climbing into the jeep.
The installation work of Bewley perfectly complements Keshet’s paintings. Focusing in this exhibition on the fragility and sometimes the burden of memory, Bewley’s ‘Family Tree’ is a sculpture created from found shelving, and populated with relics of lives remembered and passed through generations. Are memories passed along with these physical objects? How are these emotions and memories of the original owner transformed? Does the receiver’s perception influence these objects and imbue them with their own personal meaning?
‘As Long As You Don’t Forget Me’ is an immersive multi-media installation by Bewley. Inside this dark space the viewer is surrounded by illuminated images - old photographs that have been transferred and abraded onto different fabrics and that appear to be in the process of either being revealed or being concealed. The sense of being withdrawn and set apart inside this memory box is further reinforced by the music crooning quietly in the background.
This piece exaggerates the comparison between light and dark within Bewley and Keshet’s work. The clean, white walls of the gallery space seem overly bright on leaving the dark confines of ‘As Long As You Don’t Forget Me,’ whilst Keshet’s work is quite overtly filled with sunlight and heat. The juxtaposition of light and dark illustrates the idea that there are two types of memory – the external and internal. We have memories that are evoked by objects or photographs, and there are the memories that are stored solely in our minds.
The idea of memory is one that we don’t often consciously consider in the head long rush of our everyday lives, yet we are arrested by a distinctive smell, transported back in time by a certain piece of music or reminded of someone by a particular colour. The Depositary challenges us to make this process conscious. Bewley’s work quite beautifully creates art out of everyday objects such as clothes, shoes, photographs, and reminds us of how they are burdened with memories or personal meaning; Keshet does a fantastic job of illustrating the idea that place and space hold very diverse meanings and memories for each of us.
The exhibition challenges the audience; it demands engagement and provokes an emotional response. The viewer steps inside this clean, white space from a predominantly industrial street outside, to find a though-provoking show that focusses on something that can often be quite uncomfortable. The theme is something everyone can relate to, and because of this, it invites the viewer to ask questions, and think about their own stories. What does memory mean to them? How do they remember? Are there things that perhaps they can’t remember?
This is a moving and evocative exhibition that sensitively explores the diversity and fragility of memory, and whether it can ever be permanent.
Located in a narrow backstreet, just up from the busy Vogue Gyratory in Brighton, the Freehold Studio consists of workshops and a beautifully presented little white cube gallery space. The works exhibited in ‘The Depositary’ are both created and curated by Keshet and Bewley, and combine emotive installation art with understated, yet poignant paintings commissioned specifically for the Fringe Festival. The exhibition ask us to question - in the case of Keshet’s work - whether ‘place’ can trigger a memory, and with Bewley’s work, how memory is enshrined in objects and photographs.
Keshet’s work explores the idea of experiencing space and place and whether this is a subjective, or an objective experience. Many of her paintings are developments of sketch-book drawings produced during travels, and are reminiscent of that hazy, comfortable feeling that many memories produce, often regardless of whether the initial physical experience was actually an enjoyable one – or, as is more often the case, an insignificant one.
The latest paintings by Keshet, which are displayed in the exhibition, were inspired by a desert trip made by the ‘Wives Club of Aden’ in the Yemen in 1966. Elegant figures are escorted by private planes and jeeps into the heart of the desert. Without having been there personally, the viewer is transported to a time of simplicity, elegance, and the heat of sun on skin. The works provoke a false-memory in the mind of the viewer – we are there, boarding the plane, or climbing into the jeep.
The installation work of Bewley perfectly complements Keshet’s paintings. Focusing in this exhibition on the fragility and sometimes the burden of memory, Bewley’s ‘Family Tree’ is a sculpture created from found shelving, and populated with relics of lives remembered and passed through generations. Are memories passed along with these physical objects? How are these emotions and memories of the original owner transformed? Does the receiver’s perception influence these objects and imbue them with their own personal meaning?
‘As Long As You Don’t Forget Me’ is an immersive multi-media installation by Bewley. Inside this dark space the viewer is surrounded by illuminated images - old photographs that have been transferred and abraded onto different fabrics and that appear to be in the process of either being revealed or being concealed. The sense of being withdrawn and set apart inside this memory box is further reinforced by the music crooning quietly in the background.
This piece exaggerates the comparison between light and dark within Bewley and Keshet’s work. The clean, white walls of the gallery space seem overly bright on leaving the dark confines of ‘As Long As You Don’t Forget Me,’ whilst Keshet’s work is quite overtly filled with sunlight and heat. The juxtaposition of light and dark illustrates the idea that there are two types of memory – the external and internal. We have memories that are evoked by objects or photographs, and there are the memories that are stored solely in our minds.
The idea of memory is one that we don’t often consciously consider in the head long rush of our everyday lives, yet we are arrested by a distinctive smell, transported back in time by a certain piece of music or reminded of someone by a particular colour. The Depositary challenges us to make this process conscious. Bewley’s work quite beautifully creates art out of everyday objects such as clothes, shoes, photographs, and reminds us of how they are burdened with memories or personal meaning; Keshet does a fantastic job of illustrating the idea that place and space hold very diverse meanings and memories for each of us.
The exhibition challenges the audience; it demands engagement and provokes an emotional response. The viewer steps inside this clean, white space from a predominantly industrial street outside, to find a though-provoking show that focusses on something that can often be quite uncomfortable. The theme is something everyone can relate to, and because of this, it invites the viewer to ask questions, and think about their own stories. What does memory mean to them? How do they remember? Are there things that perhaps they can’t remember?
This is a moving and evocative exhibition that sensitively explores the diversity and fragility of memory, and whether it can ever be permanent.