In this second
'Introducing...' post, Curator Si Smith talks with Jay Gadhia about the
theraputic value of creating, looking up, and whirling, dervish-like.
Si: Hi Jay, can you tell us a bit about
yourself?
Jay: I am a practicing artist and run my own
studio. I don’t consider myself to have a particular style and
transiently flow between disciplines as the mood strikes. I paint, draw,
create installation and sculpt. For me, the process is often as important
as the work produced at the end. A testament to the process. Being
process led is a safe space akin to a meditative process and often find myself
creating work that incorporates repetitive patterns or forms or actions almost
making the act of creating art a mantra or prayer. I often find myself lost in
the work and consider the practice of making a pure form of divine magic and a
type of therapy.
Si: You've produced work for a couple of
other shows that I've curated, and I loved those pieces, so when you agreed to
make something for this exhibition I was really pleased :-)
Jay: The Magi piece stemmed from the Persian
origin of the kings. The line of scripture ‘We have seen his star in the
East and have come to worship him’ was brush painted repeatedly in what looked
like Arabic script but was actually in English on strips of paper. I also
incorporated henna footprints leading towards the light to represent their
journey. I wanted to create an ethereal magi-cal feel to the piece
that forced the viewer to look up in awe. In the end, isn’t that what we
all want and need. Something to look up to and believe in…
Si: Job done with that piece, then - I think
it had the desired effect :-)
One of my
favourite memories of that show was from a morning when a school group came to
visit. At one point, one lad had somehow got himself inside the 'tent' of paper
strips and was spinning round in there with his arms outstretched...
there was this
mad scramble of teaching staff to remove him before he did any damage, but i
loved the way that he just wanted to interact with it...
Jay: I love the fact this brave child
dared to cross the socially accepted boundaries reacted to the work in such a
physical way. I like the idea that he flung his arms up spun like a
whirling dervish in a trance. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be that free…
Jay: This was quite an emotionally fraught
piece. I really thought about what it must have felt like for Mary to
have been given the news that she was to give birth to the saviour of the
world. I created an installation using repeated red prayer strings and
beads. The prayer strings lead to a 3 holder candle stick representing the
trinity. In the central candle space I placed a pregnancy test kit and
had the red prayer string trapped inside to show ‘Pregnant’ but by the power of
the holy spirit. Again, the repeated form making the prayer strings and
attaching the tumble stone beads became a meditative process in order to
represent the power of prayer…
Si: And now, looking forward to the Stations
of the Cross exhibition - you're tackling the point in the narrative where
Christ meets his mother... I think that there are potentially some strong
connections back to those previous two works in that. So I was wondering
whether you feel that link might carry through into the piece that you're
planning to make now...?
Jay: I agree.
There is a recurring theme of a very human reaction to Biblical or divine
figures throughout my work. In the video installation I am using a line
of scripture to explore parental relationships to try and understand what Mary
must have felt at Station 4 witnessing her given son be condemned. The
piece is called ‘…And a sword will pierce your own soul too…. ’ (Luke
2v35). I will be using footage of open heart surgery overlaid with
submitted written statements from parents discussing their parental bond and
what advice they would give their children to pass onto their children long
after they have passed. It is a subject that I am sure many parents think
about but rarely discuss with anyone outside their own families. I hope
this piece allows a forum to explore and create a dialogue about a very
powerful and sensitive area, but nonetheless key aspect of all our lives – as
parents – and as children.
Si: So if people wanted to get involved, how
could they do that?
Jay: I am looking for
written contributions from across all family and parental groups, and from
those who do not have children, for whatever reason. The questions that I would
like the volunteers to answer are:
·
Give one piece of advice you would you give to your children to pass on their
children?
·
Parenthood means…?
·
What’s the biggest sacrifice you have given for your child?
·
What legacy would you want to leave to your children?
You can chose to
answer one, all or give a response of your own. I will then edit down the
responses to use in the installation and all submissions will be anonymised.
