Finally, after months of disruption things have finally quietened down here on ‘The Corner’. The simmering tensions created by displaced drug related activities, accentuated by the occasional machete attack, seem to have calmed down and the kind of peace that used to pass for normal has returned.
It is with this in mind that I force my brain into a happier place and look back on the positive aspects of the year so far. It has now been two years since I gave up my job in the city, not that kind of ‘job in the city’, I was a receptionist in an art gallery rather than a banker. I sometimes wonder if I was a complete banker for giving up paid employment!
But no, my passion is art, always was and always will be, and in particular making that art available to anyone who wants to chance upon it. Life is of course a struggle two years down the line, having found very little money to constitute a wage as well as enough to keep the programme ticking over, but in the arts we suffer the same problem as everyone else who is not a complete banker: finding people willing to pay for the work we do. Just like teachers, doctors, nurses etc. if a job does not make money for someone else then it seems that it is not considered a job worth doing.
Whilst the jobs of teacher, nurse, doctor etc. are important in the here and now, educating us for living and attempting to keep us in good health as we travel along life’s path, art is important for the future. Not only is it a source of productivity in the here and now -productivity being important in our governments eyes if their motivations are to be believed- but it is also a source of hope for the future. If ever our society reaches a point where people can live with one another, the troops return home and we are able to consider the things that make us happy, give us pleasure and enjoyment whilst making us laugh… what will be left?
Those of us engaged in creative work now, whether it be writers, tv & film people, painters, sculptors, designers, architects, are tending the light at the end of the tunnel. In all of our endeavours we want the world of the future to be a better place than the shoddy present and that is what we strive to achieve. That does’t make us hippies… it makes us punk, so come and join us.
Looking back in fondness on a year that could well have driven me into the depths of dark despair and most definitely anger, occasionally it did, I instead choose to focus on all of the wonderful people that have chosen to work with us like Edek Thompson, Mo Robertson and Phee Jefferies, all studio holders at Assembly House in Armley, who have brought to Beeston some of the most joyous and thought provoking work, each time bringing with them a true sense of community at each and very opening.
Then there is the continuing work of Keith Ackerman, whose sculpture ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ still stands strong and silent amidst the chaos of daily life; a quiet voice of reason emanating from this South Leeds monolith.
There was also the work of Middleton based artist Annabelle Richmond-Wright whose first solo exhibition ‘Gatekeepers of The Body’ looked at the subject of female bodily autonomy.
We have also seen exhibitions by Leeds Beckett University MA student Kristina Nenova, also of this parish, in which she looked at her Bulgarian identity as a UK student; and Macclesfield’s Dr Simon Woolham with his family memorialisation in The Living Tomb and bringing along his pal The Frog who spent days entertaining the good folks of South Leeds.
During this time we took previous Basement exhibitor Lou Hazelwood to Blank_ Gallery at Leeds City Gallery and a small group of associated artists to the Sluice Expo in Colchester.
Sadly we did not succeed in gaining the funding to be able take the group show this year to Iceland and Denmark as we wanted. Instead we have ended up tied to these UK shores. It is my intention though to next year bring Sluice to Leeds. Watch this space!
Finally despite the ongoing machinations of planning and the opacity of South Leeds land ownership we still have three artists waiting in the wings for their opportunity to realise projects in a way that will bring the area to life; Annabelle Richmond-Wright and Dominic Hopkinson with their sculptures and Chloe Harris with her mural.
Again, watch this space, by hook or by crook we will succeed. Come along to Basement, we are open by appointment across the summer months, and join with us in creating a culture from the ground up.
