An international residency, bringing together artists from India, Mexico, Belize and the UK to work alongside each other in Wakefield throughout May 2017. In response to the theme of ‘Migration’, the artists will develop new work that engages with the city and its people.
Ivan is the lead artist of the Migration collaboration. Ivan's work ranges in medium and materials from performance to video from installation to audio, kinetics and photography.
I would describe my work as site-specific and collaborative, with diverse [often drawing related] outcomes.
Andy is a locally based artist that has a developed practice that engages within the public realm engaging new audiences.
Born in Dewsbury, England in 1991, I moved to Manchester to complete my degree in BA(Hons) Fine Art at the Manchester School of Art and I am now based in Wakefield.
Bijan Moosavi is an Iranian musician and artist. His practice takes place at the intersection between the ‘Iranian’ and the ‘Contemporary’.
Cristóbal Gracia (1987) lives and works in Mexico City. Starting from the research and connection of historical events and the development of their social and cultural context to the present, mixing them with a touch of humor, science fiction, irony and violence Gracia´s work challenges the construction of a present and reality built and regulated by ideological and power structures imposed over time.
Joseph John Cotgrave is an emerging artist. His intentions are to negate traditional methods of painting through large-scale painterly informed spaces.
A quote I saw some years ago has made the most impact on me when I think about art: “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” ~ Bertolt Brecht.
Before the entire dramaturgy of one's practice is created and before I start talking about the material, the form and why, who, how and when about my work's, I would like to talk a little bit about the space that I live in.
We sent the Migration artists' a daily provocation. They could choose to respond or ignore.
# Migration, identity, belonging and citizenship - what do they mean for you?
# Where does your authenticity come from?
Migration is led by artist Ivan Smith in collaboration with The Art House and City of Sanctuary Wakefield and supported the Arts Council England.
