Press Release
Embargoed For: 5th September 2016
Title: This is my Life, (Art Event and Exhibition).
When: 21st of September 2016
Where: The Embassy Theatre, Skegness, Lincolnshire
About: This is my life is an art exhibition and event which seeks to explore all aspects of
disability through the eyes of those who struggle with various conditions. Our hope through
the exhibition is to help those who struggle with various conditions to build a “wee” bridge from
their side of the gap which makes it easier for us all to enjoy life within our community. To do this,
two artists Malcolm Tait and Jason Wilsher-Mills have been working with various groups to help
people to create images and texts which reflect how they feel about their lives or there place in the
community. This includes the family and friends of those living with the condition as they are also
affected by circumstances. The work created in theses workshops will be shown at the Embassy
Theatre Gallery alongside work by six prominent disabled artists in the exhibition “This is my Life”.
The exhibition work of the six artists is curated by Shape Arts, a national organisation which
promotes artists living with various disabilities. Sometimes within a system people talk to you, make
notes, record details, which are important to create programs to help but it can seem that although
you have been heard, no one is listening. This exhibition seeks to reintroduce the personal human
experience back into the conversation. Some of the work may not seem profound in its imagery; the
profundity is born in the maker how the work is made and the memories the image records.
What: The Exhibition of work will run from the 21st of September until the 12th of November and
will be opened on the 21st of September at 2.00pm with a large digital projection of the work created
in the workshops with Jason Wilsher-Mills, after the digital projection which will last approximately
twenty minutes there will be a new performance work by the students of Linkage supported by
Rhubarb Theatre which will last again approximately twenty minutes. After this Jason Wilsher-Mills
will give a brief talk on the Disability Discrimination Act banner that he was commissioned to make
for the Houses of Parliament where it is on permanent exhibition, a second copy of the banner will
be on show during the exhibition.
The exhibition will then be officially opened.
Participants. The six artists in the exhibition are artists, Simon Raven, Jason Wilsher-Mills, Rachel
Gadsden, Tom Shakespeare, Brigitte Mierau and Natalie Papamichael, who all face challenges
through various disabilities. (Individual artists details are given in the additional information notes).
Alongside the work of these artists will be work created by students from Linkage working with
Jason Wilsher-Mills and work created by sufferers and supporters from Lincolnshire’s Alzheimer’s
Society Dementia Cafes and other groups working with artist Malcolm Tait.
The event has been generously funded by Arts Council England with strong support from Magna
Vitae and The Embassy Theatre Skegness. Also crucial in producing this first event is Shape Arts who
curated the exhibition and Rhubarb Theatre who supported the creation of the new performance
work.
Notes for Editors:
Background to Exhibition by Malcolm Tait: I graduated from Lincoln University in 2006 with
a degree in Fine art as a mature student. Since then I have been working as an artist, but
have supplemented my income by supporting young adults with Autism to live in the
community, I also volunteer in the Alzheimer’s Societies Dementia Cafes. Over the last ten
years during that work you come to see so much paperwork and information recorded
about individuals, meeting, reviews etc. all very important and essential but despite all this,
people seem to have no positive way to express who they are and what they feel like,
something I take for granted. This has taken many years to come to fruition but
opportunities from The Embassy Theatre, Magna Vitae and generous funding from the Arts
Council have allowed the first event to take place.
Images: Below are some images of the work created in the workshops and three images
from the professional artists: High resolution images can be supplied if they are required.
Large Banner created from a composite of the work created in Jason’s Workshops.
Individual works created in Jason’s workshops
Works created in the Dementia Cafes
Natalie Papamichael
Oil on Wood panel
Tom Shakespeare
Giclee Print
Jason Wilsher-Mills Parliament Banner which hangs in the Houses of Parliament.
Notes on Exhibition artists:
Tom Shakespeare works mainly in academia, but also in arts, media and activism. His visual
artworks have been exhibited at Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester and at
Shape London pop-up venues. He is a trustee of Equal Lives, the disabled people’s organisation for
Norfolk. He broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 4.
Simon Raven works in performance, installation and digital film/photography is often made in
response to lived experience, filtered through a specific artistic research. Having studied BA
Philosophy before switching to music production then art, each piece usually combines multiple
fields of influence. Some of Ravens artistic activity refers to my experience of having been treated
for depression whilst an art student, and an interest in Disability Art more broadly.
Jason Wilsher-Mills (Shape Artist, Shape Collection)
Art has always played a pivotal role in Jason Wilsher-Mills life and as a child he remember being
asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. His answer was ‘to be an artist'.
Wilsher-Mills images reflect the issues relating to his disability, and the illness, which took his
mobility away, in a way, which he stated, “I hope that the art I create has an authentic voice”.
Making art on an iPad has given Wilsher-Mills a great deal of freedom and enabled him to once
again produce complex images, anywhere and at any time. These paintings are then printed using
the Giclée printing method, and can be printed up to a very large scale.
Using an iPad means that the surface is negotiable on which Wilsher-Mills makes his art, but the
integrity of the image is not. It also affords him the opportunity to work anywhere, using the small 9
x 7 inch screen to create digital paintings, which as he had said can be printed to very large sizes.
Rachel Gadsden is a multi-award winning artist who has a BA and MA in Fine Art; she was artist for
Hampton Court Palace 2008 - 2009, and has undertaken 4 major commissions for UK Parliament
(2009 – 2015). London 2012 Cultural Olympiad commissions followed - Unlimited Global Alchemy
and Starting Line. In 2013 Gadsden represented the UK, creating “This Breathing World” for Qatar –
UK Year of Culture 2013, for British Council and Qatari Government, HRH Prince Charles formally
opened the exhibition. Further 2013 commissions included Talking Souls with BC South Africa &
Cube of Curiosity with Marc Brew for Liberty Festival. In 2014 Gadsden created a digital artwork for
the Sochi, Winter Paralympic Torch Lighting. Gadsden also embarked on Al Noor ~ Fragile Vision, a
multi-cultural collaborative UK and Middle East project and she recently completed 14 Stations of
the Cross paintings for St Joseph’s Cathedral, Abu Dhabi. 2015 commissions have included The Four
Fridas for GDIF, Amandla for Freewheelers Theatre and Media and ILHAM Exhibition and conference
at MIA, Qatar.
In 2016 Gadsden was awarded an Artist international Development Fund Award and an a-n Travel
Bursary undertake a artistic project in Palestine and she has been appointed lead artist for the
Lighting of the Rio Heritage Paralympic Torch Festival at Stoke Mandeville Stadium.
Gadsden was awarded the National Diversity Award 2013: Positive Role Model for Disability was
shortlisted for the European Diversity Awards, Hero of the Year 2014 and won Breakthrough UK National Independent Living Award "Influencing disabled people’s participation in society”.
Gadsden is absolutely thrilled to have recently heard that she is to be awarded an “Honorary
Doctorate” from London South Bank University for her artistic work on 7th November.
Brigitte Mierau uses textile, stitch and words to create pieces of social and personal commentary and sometimes social disobedience – in order to investigate social divides and find out if, and to
what extent, art and debates around art could create greater understanding between different
social groups.
All her work involves a laborious, time consuming and repetitive making process. This process is at
least as important as the finished work. Brigitte grew up in a working class family where art simply
didn’t exist; artists were regarded as ‘chosen’ people who had nothing to do with the ‘likes of us’. It
took her decades on a very circuitous route to realise that everyone has the right to be an artist.
And so she became an artist at the ripe old age of 61 when she graduated from Camberwell College
with a First Class Honours Degree. No-one was more surprised than she was when she was
immediately offered two one year residencies.
In 2013 Brigitte visited the Venice Biennale. This Venetian Tourist Teatowel is her handstitched
response to Jeremy Deller’s We sit starving amidst our gold, a mural executed by Stuart Sam Hughes.
It depicts the 19th socialist activist William Morris as a giant hurling Russian Oligarch Roman
Abramovich’s yacht into the Venetian Lagoon. This refers to an incident in 2011 when Abramovich
had moored the huge vessel alongside the Giardini, where the Biennale is held, preventing the public
from enjoying the view or accessing the promenade. William Morris was associated with the British
Arts and Crafts movement and was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile
arts. He was born and lived for many years in Walthamstow, where Brigitte currently lives and
works. The stitched words I’m in Love with the Modern World refer to a neon artwork by D J Roberts
which was on display outside the 99p store in Walthamstow. It was also a mid-1970s song by
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, which was the time when Brigitte started losing her
hearing.
Brigitte has work in collections in three continents and now regards art as her saviour.
Interviews: If you would like further information I would be available for interviews if
required.
Contact Details:
1. Malcolm Tait (Primary Contact)
Tel: 07868757295
email: [email protected]
2. Pollyanne Trapmore-Shaw (The Embassy Theatre)
Tel: 01507 613425
email: [email protected]
3. Jason Wilsher-Mills (Lead Artist)
Tel: 07886592919
email: [email protected]