Elley Westbrook – Fine Art Level 6 were sent to Coventry and it wasn’t a punishment

Published on 20.10.21

I have been absent from college for a couple of weeks due to having covid and so with a packed itinerary, making the most of Coventry being the current City of Culture, I was a little apprehensive of getting too tired and flaking out. But reader I was heroic in my fortitude (I slept all the way back on the minibus).

I have been absent from college for a couple of weeks due to having covid and so with a packed itinerary, making the most of Coventry being the current City of Culture, I was a little apprehensive of getting too tired and flaking out. But reader I was heroic in my fortitude (I slept all the way back on the minibus).

First up we visited the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery and started with the Turner Prize Nominees.

Turner Prize 2021

29 September 2021 10.00am – 12 January 2022 4.00pm … GO and see it!

One of the best-known prizes for visual arts in the world and for the first time, a Turner Prize jury selected a shortlist consisting entirely of artist collectives. Tackling pressing issues in society today, the five shortlisted collectives were:

  • Array Collective
  • Black Obsidian Sound System
  • Cooking Sections
  • Gentle/Radical
  • Project Art Works

Gentle/Radical

Elley Westbrook – Fine Art Level 6 were sent to Coventry and it wasn’t a punishment

I was struck how all the exhibits were video and audio based. We entered the Gentle/Radical space first. It took my mind a little while to organise what was going on and just as I was about to leave thinking ‘oh that’s nice’, I was pulled into one of the screens where a letter was being read. I found myself staying for the whole loop and was moved towards moistened eyes…I found it very affecting. My head is still in it to some degree and it has made me think about alternative ways that I could treat my latest project with Shirley, the old lady I look after over the road. I have never worked with film.

Array Collective

I wish I had done my research before-hand. I would have got more out of this, but sitting in their space transported me back to the 80’s and early 90’s when I spent a good deal of time in Irish pubs. This was such a comfortable and familiar space for me that I didn’t really question anything. I missed the point but I have already decided that as there was just so much to take in, in one day, that I need to go back.

“Array are a collective of artists and activists rooted in Belfast. They create collaborative actions in response to social issues – for example, around language, gender and reproductive rights – affecting themselves, their communities and allies.”

Black Obsidian Sound System

Elley Westbrook – Fine Art Level 6 were sent to Coventry and it wasn’t a punishment 1

Black Obsidian Sound System, another brilliant installation but I didn’t stay long enough to be able to give you a proper evaluation, did I mention I am going to go back?

Cooking Sections

“Cooking Sections address the environmental impact of intensive food production. Established in London in 2013 by Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe, their work uses food as a lens to observe landscapes in transformation, and as a tool for intervention in those very systems of food production and supply. Using site-responsive installation, performance and film, they explore the overlapping boundaries between art, architecture, ecology and geopolitics.”

Visually impactful and absorbing. Again not given the head space it deserved by me…but I will go back.

Project Art Works

Elley Westbrook – Fine Art Level 6 were sent to Coventry and it wasn’t a punishment 2

Project Art Works collaborates with people who have complex support needs. Their work is at the intersection of art and care, and takes multiple forms. Their studios provide the conditions for a broad range of independent and collaborative practices with neurodivergent artists, who take part on their own terms to produce paintings, drawings, sculptural objects and film. Alongside the studios, the Support Collective brings together those who care for people with complex support needs to share experience and protect rights through training, resources and advocacy. Project Art Works organise events and projects that work towards greater visibility and understanding of neurodiversity in culture.

Project Art Works book ended my Turner Prize experience. I didn’t want to leave, I want to understand more about what they do. I was totally drawn into the film, it spoke volumes to me about the way society should treat neurodivergent people. It was, to my mind, quite simply beautiful. It got my vote.