The Harris is Thrilled to Announce their Artist in Residency for the Decolonising Arts Institute 20/20 Project
20/20 Project is an ambitious 3-year programme created to support 20 emerging ethnically diverse artists of colour to take up residencies with 20 public art collections across the country, leading to 20 new permanent acquisitions.
The Harris is delighted to announce they will be working with talented artist Hannah Sabapathy as part of this important project while the building is closed for Harris Your Place.
Eight emerging and mid-career artists with an extensive range of practices are the first of 2 cohorts to join 20/20: a national commissioning and network project directly investing in the careers of a new generation of ethnically diverse artists.
20/20 was launched in November 2021 by UAL Decolonising Arts Institute, working with a network of 20 UK public collections, museum and gallery partners, and with funding from Freelands Foundation, Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants Programme and UAL. The artists were selected following an open call in May-June this year.
Working across a range of media, forms and materials, the artists’ distinctive and interdisciplinary practices span ballpoint pen portraiture, drawing, printmaking, film and sound installations, sculpture using found elements, metal and vitreous enamels, performance, participatory workshops, poetry, photography, public realm projects, and intimate and large-scale sensory ritual events.
The artists explore themes around the construction and disruption of identity, self, and heritage, lived experiences of cultural and structural marginalisation, working-class communities and environmental concerns. Common threads across their work relate to de/colonisation and colonial trauma, ideas of appropriation, ownership and hybridity and the representation of exile and migration in the UK.
Professor susan pui san lok, 20/20 Project Director and Director of the Decolonising Arts Institute said: “We’re extremely impressed by the rich array of artistic practices and sensibilities represented by the 8 amazing artists taking up residencies with 20/20, and incredibly excited to witness and support them on their journeys into UK collections. We look forward to these relationships developing and to the new narratives and insights that emerge from the artists’ deep dives into buried histories and overlooked objects, centering voices and experiences long sidelined or ignored.”
Councillor Peter Kelly, Cabinet member for Arts and Culture at Preston City Council, said: “It’s more important than ever to support emerging ethnically diverse artists through art residencies and allow them a platform to showcase their work. By doing so, we hope to create new opportunities for people from under-represented communities in the arts sector and give them the well-deserved space to hold permanent acquisitions in the new Harris ahead of opening in 2025. It’s an honour to be a part of this brilliant initiative.”
The artists’ 15-month paid residencies at 8 UK partner museums, galleries and art collections are underway, where they will receive mentoring and support to develop their artistic practice. At the end of their residency, each artist will produce a commissioned artwork that will become a permanent piece in their residency partner’s collection.
The 20/20 project was conceived in response to urgent calls for action within arts and culture, to tackle social inequities and racial injustices amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the wake of Black Lives Matter. A further 12 artists will be brought on board in 2023, pairing a total of 20 artists with 20 UK collections and resulting in 20 new permanent acquisitions over the life of the project.
Read Our Black Lives Matter Statement
Read More About the 20/20 Project
Exciting art is coming… #2020Project
Keep up to date with Hannah Sabapathy on Instagram.