Art Life: South of the River | Jill & Josh and their Dead Petz


As the darkness of the winter months descend upon BasementArtsProject so to does the final project of the year. Taking us into 2018 are artists and studio holders at Leeds based SERF Studios Jill McKnight and Josh Hart. Jill & Josh and their Dead Petz is an exhibition that will look at what is many people’s first experience of bereavement through their pets, animals upon which we confer the status of family member.

For this, their second collaborative exhibition, Hart and McKnight explore material and psychological understanding of animals and their lives as pets. ‘Jill & Josh & Their Dead Petz’ seeks to investigate the relationships between animals and humans through production and deposition of artworks, conceiving an exhibition-as-arena of emotions and perceptions of ownership and possession, of life and death in equal measure. The works will explore pets and their passing as an autonomous force or measure of our abilities to communicate or relate, and to how we define ourselves and family.

The loss of a pet can often be our first experience of death. Relevant personal and impersonal dimensions of this subject will be articulated through an exploration of cultural modes of display; private and public. These themes of monumentality, exploitation and domesticity will be articulated throughout the course of the exhibition through works referencing Tamagotchi pets, puppets, dissected cadavers and bodily fragments.

All BasementArtsProject exhibitions and events are FREE to attend (unless otherwise stated) and all are welcome. To get details on how to reach us please e-mail Bruce Davies at basementartsproject@gmail.com

Preview
Friday 1st December | 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Exhibition Open
Saturday 2nd December | 2pm – 4pm
Sunday 3rd December | 2pm – 4pm
Monday 4th December | 11am – 2pm
Saturday 9th December | 2pm – 4pm
Sunday 10th December | 2pm – 4pm
Monday 11th December | 11am – 2pm

Lunchtime Conversations
Jill McKnight & Josh Hart
Monday 22nd January 2018
12.30 -2.30pm
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jill-josh-and-their-dead-petz-lunchtime-conversations-jill-mcknight-josh-hart-tickets-39852222069
For each exhibition at BasementArtsProject we stage at least one Lunchtime Conversation event attended by the artist at which hot food is supplied. These events are opportunities for people to ask the artist questions about the exhibition and practice.
BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL as places are limited
Menu
Chilli (Vegan)
Cous Cous (Vegetarian)
Cheese Board
Fruit
Tea / Coffee / Fresh Juice

Rosie (2017) Jill McKnight & Josh Hart
Book illustration