Xhibit
2020
A.P.T 6 Creekside Deptford, London SE8 4SA
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Lucy Alves Patricia Beja Neelam Bhullar Livia Carpineto Hellie Cartledge Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Collective Benjamin Cruz Amir Dehghan Tea Di Giacomo, Emanuela Passadore & Rachel Wang Henry Glover Tsan Huang Su Jung Jang
Hei Di Li Helun Liang Colin Lievens & Thomas Oliver Chirawilai Luatngoen Alicia McGuire Aikaterini Mimikou Paraskevi Pataoulioti Eleanor Pearce Emma Phillips Iolo Puleston Juliette Stuart Yasmeen Thantrey Gail Theis Dominik Wiecek Yula Wojcik Lu Xu
As with every year, Xhibit came together over a day’s selection by a panel of creative industry professionals. In 2020, the panel included Jamie Clifton, Editor-in-Chief at Vice UK, whose 10-year career at the media group showcases a history of supporting emerging artists through editorial content, with a particular focus on illustration and graphic design. To mirror this support of emerging creativity, we are pleased to be hosting Xhibit at Art in Perpetuity Trust (APT) in Deptford, a gallery and studio space that has supported emerging and mid-career artistic practice for over 20 years, and to have APT Administrative Director Liz May
join the selection panel. Liz has over 18 years of experience overseeing the gallery programme and studios, as well as running the yearly Creekside Open exhibition. Joining Liz and Jamie, we welcomed to the panel Aimée McLaughlin, who came to us from Creative Review—an organisation that has been bringing the creative community together since the 1980s. Aimée’s work as a staff writer has seen her cover design, advertising, TV, photography, and illustration. Our penultimate judge was Hannah Walker, a journalist whose career has spanned 18 years as editor of the much-revered South London Press and, more recently, executive editorial work at the Evening Standard. Hannah comes to Xhibit with a wealth of knowledge in overseeing initiatives that bring attention to and promote the diverse creative communities of London. Last but definitely not least, our very own Activities Sabbatical Officer and Camberwell graduate Eleanor Louise West joined the panel to represent the student voice. Eleanor was instrumental in ensuring that Xhibit had a fully wheelchair-accessible venue for 2020. She lends us great knowledge of photographic practice
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Xhibit 2020 sees the annual exhibition enter its 23rd year: a long and illustrious legacy that ensures the open-call opportunity coordinated by Arts SU—the Students’ Union for University of the Arts London— maintains its historic position as the longest-running democratic creative opportunity specifically for UAL students. This yearly exhibition works to platform the vast diversity of practice at UAL, functioning as a space for cross-college collaboration and representation.
and is an emerging LGBTQ theorist to watch. To sum up the length and breadth of practice in this exhibition in one paragraph is almost impossible. We are pleased to be hosting 33 practices represented by 28 works, signalling a major growth in collaborative and collective working. It’s always interesting to gauge what materials are selected and how each discipline is represented.
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This year, we see illustration, painting and video work surface. As an opencall democratic exhibition, Xhibit doesn’t respond to or represent thematic notions; nevertheless, the exhibition increasingly works as an active temperature gauge of political interests, activism and ideology. In 2020, we see students unpacking gender fluidity, cultural identity, diasporas and misplaced communities, family expectations, the climate crisis as viewed through the lens of the California wildfires, 21st-century capitalism and consumerism, the queer gaze, and the role of the body politic in conceptual art. We see a return of work representing feminist ideology, consciousness-raising, and immigration. Grime comes to Xhibit, as does the idea of genetic makeup as a way to determine
our connections to one another as humans in the world. In 2020, we have also been working hard to ensure that the opportunity responds to direct feedback from previous Xhibit-selected artists. As a result, we have ensured that the exhibition is complemented by a programme of creative and professional development opportunities. We’re pleased that, for the first time, we will be working with a student curatorial collective to shape the exhibition’s look and feel. We also aim to host a range of crits within the space, as well as networking opportunities for Xhibitselected practitioners. Finally, we are grateful for the ongoing support of Cass Art, who will once again be awarding one Xhibit-selected artist a materials bursary of £500 to spend in their shops or online. We have also partnered for the first time with Vice UK, who are working with us to select one Xhibit artist to take forward for their Vision Award: an online platforming opportunity that will surface via Vice’s well-visited web and social media spaces. Many thanks and we hope that you enjoy the exhibition. Sophie Risner Arts Programmer
The concept of Xhibit is to embody artistic freedom and to present a range of perspectives from emerging creatives. We think it’s important for the audience to understand and experience the personal and political thoughts of the artists. We want the show to have the exciting and energetic atmosphere of unfiltered creativity. As recent Fine Art graduates from Camberwell UAL, both of our practices have expanded with our interest in curation. Marjian Tsatsaros Tyagi is a contemporary artist currently based in the UK. Her artistic practice involves photography, film, drawing, sculpture, and installation, and primarily inspects concepts of memory, nature, place, and the archive. Becky Hancock is a multidisciplinary artist focusing on the details of the domestic and every day; objects, structure, and routine. Focusing on distortion, repetition and tension. As young artists/curators, this is an occasion to present and promote the voices of our peers: the next generation of emerging artists within this political climate. In undertaking the show, we felt it was essential to curate from a conceptual, as well as visual perspective. Our process
of curating Xhibit 2020 started by forming relationships with all the artists and engaging with each work to understand its concept. Thus, creating an understanding of how the works respond to the space and how they complement one another visually and conceptually, while maintaining a sensitive approach to the individual works. Each artist’s work is platformed to amplify its message and respect its sensitivities. This process is always a collaboration between us and the artists, so that their work is professionally and creatively presented and safely installed. Our Fine Art backgrounds lead us to appreciate all forms of individual practice and to approach the show as an equal platform for all disciplines. We want to embody Xhibit’s essence of open opportunity in bringing together all courses and levels at UAL and allowing diversity of voices and opinions to come together. The concept of open opportunity is further manifested in the fact that we as student curators are gaining more experience within the industry side of the arts, whilst building relationships and skills as the future generation of working creatives. Marjian Tsatsaros Tyagi and Becky Hancock
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Curatorial statement
Lucy Alves
BA Fine Art: Photography Camberwell College of Arts lucyalves98@gmail.com lucyalvesart
A triptych of prints exploring the value of an artist’s labour and work. Each image shows the intrinsic value of the material and labour costs, displaying a digitally drawn amount of £146.09. The digital media explores the commercialisation of art and the bright colours give a gentle nod to the pop art movement. As an emerging artist, it is hard to remove myself from the process of making work to sell. This piece highlights this notion while questioning ideas around pricing art.
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Buy me for £146.09 each, 2020 Framed giclée prints 198mm x 282mm
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Patricia Beja
BA (Hons) Illustration and Visual Media London College of Communication patibeja@gmail.com beja_design bejadesignofficial
I am a visual communicator particularly attracted to 2D animation and I like to research topics that interest me, such as climate issues, music and cultures/subcultures.
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My creative adventure started during A-Levels when I studied Visual Arts in Lisbon, Portugal, which taught me various disciplines, such as painting, printmaking, and design. This newfound passion for art encouraged me to pursue a BA in Illustration and Visual Media at UAL. Through this degree, I discovered the world of animation. My obsession with colour became a distinct aesthetic in my work that helps me produce different sensations on the human eye. Sounds Like London is a social and cultural documentary of a subculture: grime. Twenty years ago, from the bowels of Bow, East London, an intriguing movement was born. The voice of a generation that needed to be heard was boiling fiercely under the flame of London’s most powerful financial district, Canary Wharf. That voice was loud and unapologetic towards society, and provocative for those who cared enough to dive into the verses. Grime was that voice. A genre of electronic dance music that emerged in London at the turn of the twenty-first century, became the voice of the British youth, and ended up taking over the UK.
Sounds like London, 2020 Digital animation 1 min, 22 sec
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Neelam Bhullar
BA Illustration and Visual Media London College of Communication n.bhullar1@arts.ac.uk nbhullar19
The series of prints focuses on illness, identity, and the emotional impact which ill physical health can have on an individual’s mental health. I got the initial idea for the series while at the Wellcome Collection exhibition Misbehaving Bodies: Joe Spence and Oreet Ashery, which also draws attention to emotion, ill health, and identity. I felt inclined to produce a series of prints as ill health is something to which I can relate; the series was thus prompted by my own experiences with health and how they have impacted my work as an artist.
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The series builds on my own interests, research, and the connections I have found between art and health. When I was producing this outcome, I was considering emotion in depth and feeling everything one might expect to feel when consumed by illness, including thoughts of isolation and angst. In applying this visually, I focused on pattern, form, and texture. These key elements were what I was most engaged with throughout producing these prints. What I was most intrigued by was the strong medical connection that lithography shares with medical illustration, which formed the foundation of my early research.
Illness and Identity, 2020 Prints 568mm x 666mm 426mm x 566mm
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Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Collective
BA Fine Art Chelsea College of Art
InĂŠs Cardo Sophie Dickson Jessie Evans Aikaterini Mimikou
havingadomestic@gmail.com
In a space of transit, four knitters work on a collective four-edged scarf: a safety blanket. The repetitive act of knitting becomes a ritual and the knitting piece a magical object, pushing bodies together in intimate and spontaneous connections and transforming the atmosphere of the space where the action takes place.
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Safety Blanket is not only the act of creating a physical object, but everything that happens when our bodies are connected by a net that keeps on growing through our hands’ work. It is time and people passing by in contrast to our slow activity. It is our conversations, the interactions of bystanders and viewers with the performers when they are invited to sit and talk, to knit, or to be taught how to. Through the intrinsically marginal act of knitting and the spontaneity of the performance, Safety Blanket brings up questions regarding the expectations of female presence in society, academia and the art world, as well as questioning what forges community. We aim to re-evaluate hidden, embodied, communal, generational and gendered knowledge, often left aside or looked down upon. We work towards transforming spaces through intimate actions with a philosophy of learning from each other, and we understand collaboration as key to creating an open community between artists and the public. We believe that these banal activities are, in fact, performative actions that lead us to establish powerful nets of intimacy.
Safety blanket, ongoing Performance and knitted object Dimensions and yarns vary
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Livia Carpineto
BA Illustration Camberwell College of Arts www.liviacarpineto.com arpinetolivia@gmail.com liviacarpineto
This artist book was made in response to a South London Gallery brief in which students were asked to create interactive visual narratives inspired by South London locations. My assigned location was the mysterious church of the Rosicrucian Order in Peckham and its surroundings. The design of the book is based on primary on-site research and observational drawings of the area.
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Proust’s concept of involuntary memory inspired me to explore the idea of rediscovery in the book, namely through the interpretation of the signs and symbols that constitute the ‘magical’ elements of our daily existence: ordinary stories lost in an undefined time. The book contains anecdotes about its characters written as rebuses, puzzle devices that combine illustrated pictures with letters to depict words and phrases. By solving all the riddles, it is also possible to precisely date the narration of the stories.
A Night Never to be Remembered, a Night Never to be Forgotten, 2019 Interactive 3D artist book, mixed media 148mm × 210mm
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Helena Cartledge
BA Hons Illustration Camberwell College of Arts www.thesmallillustrator.myportfolio.com h.cartledge0220171@arts.ac.uk thesmallillustrator@gmail.com thesmallillustrator
Flowers on their last legs highlights my growing appreciation of the process of crafts. I find that the etching gives a sepia tone to the piece that evokes the dull atmosphere of the dying flowers—an effect I could not have achieved with another technique.
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From cutting the plate to placing the inked plate onto a printing press, each stage of an etching is as technical and important as the next. It is this traditional and delicate approach to image-making that has become crucial to my practice as an illustrator.
Flowers on their last legs, 2019 Etching 420mm x 594mm
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Benjamin Cruz
BA Fine Art Chelsea College of Arts bcruz@idyllwildarts.org loneliestboyintheworld
Every year, the California wildfire season grows longer and more intense. Millions witness the scorching conditions from evacuation centres, their cars on the freeway, or their televisions and smartphones. Every summer, I fear for the safety and wellbeing of my family and community as fires creep up to our doorsteps. The scale and effect of these fires feel mythological and apocalyptic, feelings I wanted to capture in my painting.
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California is both a person and a place; she is a deity of sorts. She is a paradise, a diverse landscape, a rich mediascape. But she can’t remain. Each year, the size and severity of these fires grow. We Californians witness her burning and mourn her landscape, but are we complicit? Or are efforts to battle and prevent these fires fruitful? Have you seen the fire scars heal? Have you seen how fast life returns and how beautiful it looks? The fires aren’t coincidental; they are preparation for something greater, something beyond our control. With apocalypse comes rebirth: a transformation. Whether or not we will be here for the new California is unknown, but what we do know is that we are witnesses now. We are simultaneously witnessing the beginning and the end.
CAN’T YOU SEE THAT CALIFORNIA IS BURNING AND NO ONE IS DOING ANYTHING TO HELP HER? 2019 Oil on canvas 1829mm x 1372mm
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Amir Hossein Dehghan
Fine Art: Photography Camberwell College of Arts amirde13@gmail.com L_o_a_
This artwork consists of a series of portraits taken at an underground party in Shiraz, Iran in March 2019. The portraits are accompanied by a text-based work that quotes the penal code of Iran, in which various laws enforce the punishment of lashes.
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Each portrait is stamped with the number of lashes it owes, the title is the total number of lashes owed across the six portraits, and the remainder is the number of lashings I am owed. All the pictures have been censored in the darkroom using an analogue method to maintain the political security of those involved.
1466 Lashes, 2019 Gelatin silver prints, hand-typed text on recycled paper Sizes variable
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Tea Di Giacomo Emanuela Passadore Rachel Wang
MA Design for Art Direction London College of Communication digiacomotea@gmail.com emanuela.passadore@gmail.com l.wang0720181@arts.ac.uk nenapassa.jpg
Ab-trahere is a reflection on abstraction, human perceptions, and mind connections between sounds and objects. Abstraction derives from the Latin ab-trahere “to pull away” / “to divert”/ “to detach”. From that, we get the idea that an abstraction is something that is drawn away from concrete reality.
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The project is structured on these three verbs: 1. “To pull away”: DECONTEXTUALISATION. Everyday objects are pulled away from their ordinary context, opening space to imagine new meanings. We altered viewers’ perception of the objects by isolating them from their normal surroundings. (Main reference: Duchamp's Fountain) 2. "To divert”: DECONSTRUCTION—RECONSTRUCTION made by the sound. We provoked a diversion by deconstructing the sensory properties (touch, sight, sound) of objects in order to reconstruct them in different ways. In this way, we created a short-circuit between what you see and what you hear, altering mind perceptions and feelings: a senses contamination. (Main reference: Picasso's Bull's Head) 3. “To detach”: COMPOSITION. We created our video to represent the detachment from reality and from the materiality of every object by creating abstract compositions of moving images on a white background. (Main reference: Malevic compositions)
Ab – trahere 2019 Video with sound 1 min, 42 sec
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Henry Glover
BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting Wimbledon College of Arts www.henryglover.co.uk henrygeorgeglover@gmail.com hgglover
I predominantly use painting and sculpture to comprehend the physical experience of relationships. The idea of the embrace is a recurring motif in my work. It has been traversed in several forms: boxer's clinching, hands squeezing a pillow, and ceramic human forms locked together, becoming one. My paintings are acutely physical, yet the sensations of touch and intimacy are as delicate as the process of firing clay. Paying close attention to the malleable properties of each medium, I fuse the figurative bodily forms with what is unintelligible in their behaviour, abstracting particular elements. 24
I draw on both personal experiences and those enveloped in art and cinema. The German Expressionist and Symbolist painters are fundamental to my practice. In particular, Edvard Munch has been a constant inspiration; I find his painting style and his industry so liberating, truthful, and enigmatic. Ultimately, my work focuses on the pure emotions and sensations of both the materials with which I engage and my own personal relationships. Awards and residencies: Elephant x ColArts (TFAC) Summer Residency in collaboration with Emma Morgan. Group exhibitions: Made in Arts London 2019 Collection at TM Lighting; STOCK UP ON AIR (Curator) at The Nunnery Gallery 2018; CREAM: Whipped at The Coningsby Gallery 2019; and various UAL exhibition spaces in 2018 and 2019.
Take me somewhere nice, 2019 Oil and soft pastel on canvas 800mm x 600mm
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Tsan Huang
MA Painting Camberwell College of Arts huangcanart@163.com its_canart
I was inspired by Albert Einstein's famous general theory of relativity, published in 1916. Einstein asserted that the “warping effect of gravity does not just affect space, but also time�.
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I created this work above a heating plate, imagining each piece of thermal paper as a universe. By folding and bending them, I made a black and white collage. As you can see, the uneven black colour could be a clue, hinting that in the traces of temperature changing, space warping, and time passing, this is actually more than a 2D work. I was aiming to awaken the viewer's sense of the dimension they live in, then encourage them to feel the larger universe around themselves.
The Random Universe, 2020 Thermal paper 1260mm x 1800mm
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Su Jung Jang
MA Illustration Camberwell College of Arts www.sujungjang.com sujungjang.art@gmail.com sujung_jang
Sugar is a picture book written and illustrated by me. Self-esteem has been a crucial issue for me for a long time and I began making work related to this topic after I came to love myself without judgment. Last year, I started to make this picture book about self-esteem for my little daughter. If I could say one sentence to her, I would say "I love you and you are precious, no matter whether you can do something well or not." This message is for everyone. It was such a great experience to see adults touched by this stories and share their experiences around this issue. 28
The three selected images are about the main character Liby’s collection room, the moment she verifies her value through sugar, and the crisis in her journey of obsessing about sugar. Through collecting sugar, Liby feels secure. She misunderstands that everyone likes her because she is good at collecting and sharing sugar. She becomes obsessed with piling up more sugar. And once it melts completely from the heavy rain, she sinks into despair. I want to ask to the audience: what is your sugar? Through what work or ability do you want to make sure you are valuable? If you lose your sugar, what feeling will you have? I also ask if we can accept someone's worth without thinking about their ability, background, or any other conditions.
Sugar (picture book), 2020 Acrylic, paper, colour pencil, oil pastel, digital collage 430mm x 300mm
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Hei Di Li
BA Fine Art Chelsea College of Arts liheidi1997@gmail.com plum_black_field
Residential Monster is a painting of a residential complex containing different lives, characters, and struggles. The residential building uses its body as a giant container for all the love and quarrels of its residents. The building is also a character of its own. Stifled by the many stories within itself, the building has become a monster.
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Residential Monster, 2019 Oil on canvas, plaster feet 3600mm x 2000mm
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Helun Liang
MA Painting Camberwell College of Arts j.liang0220193@arts.ac.uk leo_liangart
As an artist and a member of the Tungus ethnicity, I express the indigenous stories of Tungus tribes through combining perceptions and experiences of the nomadic culture. My practice interrogates cultural marginalization in China using the native style that originates from the minority ethnicity. With historical references from cliff paintings and folktales, I attempt to translate these ancient documents into the relatively contemporary language of oil painting, print media, installation and video.
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Ultimately, I want to create a permanent ‘heterotopia’ of Tungus culture to prevent the vanishing of its art, language, and so on. It is our unusual space configuration and time experience that documents the myth and the history of the native residents of Northern China, with whom I worked. The inspiration for this painting is Shamanism, which is the core religion of Manchu culture. In Siberia, where Shamanism originated, people traditionally believed that the world was divided into three layers. Human beings lived in the middle layer, but the upper world, in the sky, could be reached by a small hole. This picture is about the upper level, where the gods live. I recreate the figures from cliff paintings in Northern China and connect them with the maps, which are made by white lines and dots.
The World of Gods, 2019 Oil on linen 800mm x 1700mm
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Colin Lievens Thomas Oliver
BA Fine Art Central Saint Martins tsjoliver@gmail.com colinlievens@gmail.com www.tsjoliver.myportfolio.com www.colinlievens.com tom_oliverr colinlievens
‘Patience’ documents a performance in which Oliver (he/him), performing the role of a surgeon, tattooed his own surgical scar onto Lievens (they/them), the patient. Our work draws parallels between Oliver’s open-heart surgery and Lievens' upcoming top surgery, while exploring ideas of gifting, community, and time. 34
This performance occurred on the final day of our collaborative project Aromantic Romanticism, in which we produced a new work every day for 25 days. This format of collaboration was constructed to mirror the traditional period of Advent, corresponding to our discussions surrounding ideas of waiting, anniversary, and celebration. The project functioned as a countdown to the first anniversary of Oliver’s heart surgery. This careful consideration of time allows the performance to simultaneously operate as a re-enactment of Oliver’s 2018 surgery and as a pre-enactment of Lievens’ future surgery. A spoken word poem that accompanies the photograph aims to contextualise the work within our practice(s). The two separate voices allow our individual experiences to be brought into the poem. The act of the poem being read aloud, in unison, is a declaration of shared experience within community— simultaneously addressing our donors, our bodies, and each other.
Patience, 2020 Digital print, audio 1189mm x 793mm
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Chirawilai Luatngoen
BA Fashion Textile: Print London College of Fashion chirawilaidesign@gmail.com chillywilai
I am a current third-year student in the BA course Textile Print at the London College of Fashion. My collection The Night Creature purveys queer entertainment, with sexually ambiguous creatures striking human poses against a backdrop of disco pop culture and aesthetics. The aim is to counter a world that is tending towards the dour and worthy. The goal of my practice is to bring people together and give them a voice with which to express themselves. The point is to provide an alternative; I want to produce laughter again via the narratives of my illustrations. 36
The range includes four prints with hand-drawn illustrations of quirky creatures, three Studio 54 celebrity icon sweatshirts, and one fleece scarf with an abstract print. I showcased my Toilet Humour series at Factory 45 in London in 2018 and at Ari’s arthouse in Bangkok in 2019.
Fishing for queer gaze, 2019 Digital print, audio 1189mm x 793mm
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Alicia McGuire
MA Fashion Photography London College of Fashion www. the-dots.com/users/alicia-mcguire-212746 alykmxvs
BAME Artisans is a collaborative project with up-and-coming black and ethnic minority fashion designers located in London. The purpose of the project is to celebrate and expose the talents of young designers who often go unnoticed by the mainstream fashion industry. In the future, I hope to create a platform that will connect black and ethnic minority artists and create a space for people like me to gain recognition.
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I photographed the series African Gods and Goddesses in collaboration with Christie Fewry, a fashion designer whose heritage stems from Sierra Leone. In this series, we wanted to focus on Oshun, the traditional African goddess of purity, love and water. We added a modern touch, with Christie's hand-sewn garments capturing the colour and vibrancy of African culture while playing with the concept of gender fluidity in a world where it may still not be widely accepted.
BAME Artisans, African Gods and Goddesses: Oshun, 2020 Photograph
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Aikaterini Mimikou
BA Fine Art Chelsea College of Art katemimikou@gmail.com
Five characters celebrating Christmas over lunch. They talk to each other. Who are they? Who has the power? Who pulls the strings behind those stories? What’s that language? I can’t read everything, this is too fast! Who has the power? 40
Furry hats and inappropriate shirts, weird hairstyles and heavy jewellery, Dobermans and Alzheimer's.
Wives, Mothers, Daughters, Aunts, Mothers-in-law. Husbands, Fathers, Sons, Uncles, Fathers-in-law.
Family. Feminism. Social class. Hierarchy. Power.
Call Out My Name, 2019 Video 24 min, 26 sec
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Paraskevi Patoulioti
BA Illustration and Visual Media London College of Communication p.patoulioti0220171@arts.ac.uk vicky_patoulioti
The artwork displayed encapsulates my interpretation and combination of a number of different scenes from Stanley Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut. It was created as part of a university project, under the original title of SceneStealers Editions. Secret Ballroom is a print that has been through various processes in order to reach its final form. Starting as a pencil drawing, it developed into a photopolymer print, which was later edited in Photoshop and finally digitally printed. 42
Good practical skills and knowledge of fundamental art values occupy a major role in my work. My practice showcases academic elements of art, displayed in such a way as to comply with contemporary thinking. Here, I focus on composition, perspective, contrast, texture, and movement. I am aiming to escape the norm of a "clean" print that follows a specific concept, instead creating a visual that can be interpreted and felt in many ways.
Secret Ballroom, 2019 Digital Prints 320mm x 320mm framed (290mm x 290mm unframed)
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Eleanor Pearce
BA Fine Art Central Saint Martins www.eleanorpearce.com eleanormpearce@hotmail.com elliempearce
This installation focuses on the cellular form found throughout the body, inviting the viewer to inhabit the space it creates with their own body. I created this installation by hand-dyeing fabric cells and stitching them together to form an encapsulating environment that surrounds the viewer. My work invites the viewer to step into the womb-like environment and explore it through touch and bodily movements.
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In my work, I explore the microscopic cellular world and make it tangible for an audience through the medium of textiles. Often, I take inspiration from the beauty of histology slides and the complex forms found under the microscope. I translate these microscopic images into tactile textile works to be explored through touch. The process of making this body of work was similar to nest-building; I gradually sewed together the cells to form this architectural structure, which only comes to life when suspended at a height. The work changes depending on the space it inhabits and responds differently to each new space.
Cellular Encasement, 2020 Hand-stitched recycled foam Size varies according to installation
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Emma Phillips
BA Fine Art Painting Wimbledon College of Art emmaphillips98@outlook.com emmaphillipsart
This series of works explores Marc Augé’s concept of ‘non-place’ in relation to the stagnation of Britain’s new towns, and the struggle to establish identity in an environment with no cultural or historical significance.
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The paintings depict spaces around my hometown of Stevenage, the first new town. Built in the 1940s to relieve crowding in war torn Britain, Stevenage—once advertised as a suburban utopia—is now a cultural wasteland of restaurant chains, bargain stores, and poorly-aged Brutalist architecture. Many of these selfcontained commuter towns have deteriorated into 'non-places', with their sterile lack of character and suburban uniformity breeding isolated communities. I enjoy finding beauty in these bleak in-betweenlands. The cracks in the eerie artifice of suburban towns offer an honest depiction of the British landscape, far from picturesque rural convention. I am influenced by artists like George Shaw and David Rayson, while my process is informed by psychogeography and the act of walking as artistic practice. Made during my first year at university, the paintings also address personal loneliness and nostalgia for a home loved and loathed in equal measure.
Subtopia, 2019 Oil on linen
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Iolo Puleston
Art Foundation Camberwell College of Arts iolopuleston21@gmail.com iolopul
Self-portrait with dog is a painting I did. It is of me with a dog by my side. To me, the painting represents catharsis. I used one brush and lots of oil paint. I am a self-taught painter and I think my naivety gives this painting a feeling of innocence and genuineness. 48
In the painting, I have overcome a sense of loneliness and feel happy with a friend by my side. I hope something in my painting makes you happy.
Self-portrait with dog Oil on canvas 600mm x 800mm
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Juliette Stuart
BA (Hons) Illustration and Visual Media London College of Communication www.juliettestuart.com Juliette.stuart@gmail.com juliette.stuart
Infinity Ltd. is a body of work exploring loneliness and isolation within our capitalist consumer culture, offering a satirical take on the effects on us as consumers. The two films serve as an introduction to and advertisement of Infinity Ltd. and its products.
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The style is influenced by the aesthetics of hyper-consumption, sales graphics, and retro infomercials. To create a total visual immersion into the world, I made nearly every component of the film—from the boxes, to the glasses, to the costumes. Infinity Ltd. is waiting for you with open arms. We hope to see you in store soon.
Infinity Ltd., 2019 Digital video 2 min, 50 sec
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Yasmeen Thantrey
BA Fine Art Sculpture Camberwell College of Arts yasmeenthantrey.wixsite.com/arts yasmeen.thantrey@gmail.com yasmeenthantrey
My name is Yasmeen Thantrey and my practice is centred on identity and South Asian culture, exploring my place as a second-generation immigrant woman and the diasporic and personal effects on my identity. An important part of my work is my body; being a fat, brown woman acts as a socio-political statement. My Pakistani and Islamic heritage intertwines with the work involving my body, giving my themes a greater cross-cultural weight. 52
Three Hours and Five Razors Later Ceramics, turmeric Sizes vary
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Gail Theis
MFA Wimbledon College of Art gail@blagz.com gailtheis
I am exploring the many layers that give a person their identity. Where and how we are brought up, our families and friends, and where we travel to or come from in the world all influence our development into the individuals we become.
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We are both nature and nurture—formed by our present and our past. How much do we control? We are often told that we resemble a relative, that we have similar characteristics, or that we have inherited some talent or skill. This has led me to focus on what we really choose for ourselves and how important inheritance is in who we become. At first, we are moulded by our families and their myriad influences, but as we grow and make our own choices in navigating the world, we gradually choose our own unique paths. We all come from a blend of families; even for those from the same culture, each family experience is different. Woman’s Work is about nature and nurture. Pieced fabric represents the layers of what is often thought of as women’s work in a metaphor for nurture: blanketing new life and keeping it safe. The DNA symbolizes the birth and development of new life, the next generation, the next member of a family, and hope for the future.
Woman’s Work, 2020 Stitched cotton fabric pieces 2400mm x 700mm
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Dominik Wiecek
MA Industrial Design Central Saint Martins dwiecek7@gmail.com dwiecek7
I was essentially interested to apply features of iconic design in the making of the table, which turned out to be a subconscious manifestation of my fear of arachnids. This was by turns disgusting and appealing, to the point of implantation in the functional object.
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Tellur side table, 2019 550mm x 600mm x 600mm Painted Birch Plywood
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Yula Wojcik
Animation London College of Communication moonyula.wixsite.com/website onyulah@gmail.com moonyula
An old tale tells a story about a turtle holding a globe on its shell. Inspired by that, I created a fictional metropolis that exists thanks to, and is supported by, a tremendous sea turtle. Life has its roots and fundamentals. We as human beings are connected to flora and fauna more than we might feel. This is a symbol of that. 58
City turtle, 2019 Fine liners and black ink
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Lu Xu
MA Illustration Camberwell College of Arts laylaxu71.wixsite.com/portfolio laylaxu71@gmail.com laylaxu71
The work is about a ceremony, the so-called ‘rice blessing’. In Chinese culture, food, which is often represented by rice, is thought to be one of the most important things in people’s lives. As one of the spring festival traditions, the rice blessing ceremony is held in some areas.
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One person, usually someone who enjoys a high reputation among the people, throws the rice as high as possible, while others kneel down and try with hats or hands to collect the rice. Then they keep the blessed rice in their rice vats, so they do not need to worry about their livelihoods in the following year.
RICE BLESSING, 2019 Mixed media (acrylic, watercolour, pencil, digital) 297mm x 420mm
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Credits and thanks Xhibit 2020 would not have been possible without the support of the following individuals and organisations: Sabbatical Team Amber Goneni (Campaigns Sabbatical Officer) Anita Israel (Education Officer) Pinky Latt (Welfare Sabbatical Officer) Eleanor Louise West (Activities Sabbatical Officer) Thank you to all Arts SU staff for your ongoing support of Xhibit.
Mark Crawley (Dean of Students) Anna Tsekouras (Communications Manager)
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2020 Selection panel and partners Selection panel; Jamie Clifton (Vice), Liz May (Art in the Perpetuity Trust), AimĂŠe McLaughlin (Creative Review), Hannah Walker (Evening Standard), Eleanor Louise West (Arts SU Activities Sabbatical Officer) Mark Cass (Founder and CEO) Liesel Thomas (Partnerships and Outreach Manager)
Jamie Clifton (Editor in Chief) Leala-Rain Shonaiya (Marketing Executive, Events and Partnerships)
Liz May (Administrative Director)
Catalogue Copy Editor Katie McMahon – katiermcmahon@gmail.com
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VICE UK is delighted to partner with Arts SU and UAL on Xhibit 2020.
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Since the first issue of the magazine was published over 25 years ago, VICE has championed young creative talent, making space online and in print for up-and-coming photographers, artists and designers – and we’re pleased to be able to use this platform to shine a light on the work of this year’s VICE UK Vision Award winner.
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