ART STUDENT HEADER
Mum s memories inspires exhibition
A
n artist who ran away from the circus to go to university has showcased her work on home turf at the recent Staffordshire University s Degree
Show. Eve Travis is one of hundreds of students across Art, Design, Media and Performance courses to exhibit their final year projects in the show which featured earlier this Summer. After travelling the world as a circus performer, Eve, aged 30 from Newcastle-underLyme, decided to go back to university when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. She said: I worked in the creative industry for ten years and just wanted to create for creativity s sake. I dropped out of uni the first time to run away with the circus and then I ran away from the circus to come back to uni. In the Fine Art gallery, Eve paid homage to her mum who studied the same subject at North Staffordshire Polytechnic in the 1970s. She recreated a painting that her mother produced, whilst pregnant with her.
The miniature abstract artwork of a pregnant female form was carefully displayed on a museum-style plinth alongside Eve s interpretation of the piece; a large patchwork quilt that hung on the gallery wall. Eve explained: Going through this process I feel closer to my mum in a different way and feel that I have learned more about her. I wanted to manufacture this heirloom to give back to her and decided to make a quilt because I felt that is domestic and homely. In another room, Eve recreated a piece of performance art that her mum made during the same period which was projected onto the wall. Originally featuring Eve s mother and father with a musical accompaniment by a close friend, these roles have been reprised by Eve, her partner and best friend who is also a musician with a reworked version of the song. Eve said: When I came into my final year, I started thinking about the art performances that my mum told me about years ago and that there is no documentation of. I have these memories of memories that aren t within my lived experience and I have this myth of my mother that revolves around being at this institution that I am now also at. I was seeking connection with this mum that I didn t know before she became a mum. I feel that she gave up art to be a mother, so I wanted to remake one of her performances and gift it to her. Eve revealed her recreations to her mum during the Degree Show and filmed her reaction and their conversations. She added: I decided not to ask my mum for any finer details, so I ve made it based on this memory of a re-telling. What is interesting is that it will be wrong but it will be mine and it will be hers all at the same time.
