Titos

I organised a 4 week residency in an abandoned building in Liverpool through The Arts Organisation.

The following is my proposal:

I am concerned with issues of dereliction and abandonment on a physical and mental level, and use my work as a way to translate and transcribe the tensions and experiences within urban settings. Through my work, I hope to confront how people respond to neglected sites through the means of transforming them in a way that encourages interaction. I am interested in emotional and intuitive responses to specific spaces, considering multi-sensory aspects and the effects of the urban environment on the individual. Ultimately, I want to challenge how these spaces of indeterminacy are perceived, drawing on the importance of such sites with regard to the memories they encapsulate, acknowledging the lives lived within them, rather than seeing them simply as structural. It is their ability to break the mould of expected normalcy and to provide greater texture to everyday life that excites me.

Working on site-specific installations and projects, I respond intuitively to my surroundings. I am particularly interested in the textures that surround us and the random markings that go unnoticed. I take that which has been neglected, the detritus that can be found all around cities and abandoned spaces, as inspiration to create beautiful sculptures and pieces of work. Through utilising simple techniques such as wrapping thread around found objects and appliquéing beads to rust, or making patterns through drilling holes into wood, I subtly transform the overlooked and make it precious. In this way, I am concerned with both the space of dereliction and what is found within the space.

I am currently in the process of looking for permission to work in an abandoned space to allow me the opportunity to spend more time on an installation piece. I see this as perhaps taking the form of a 4-6 week residency, resulting in an exhibition of the work I have created. It is the process of decay and weathering that inspires my work, and therefore the more dilapidated the space is, the more I will have to work with. I would be keen to work with the space in the condition that it is found in to allow me the chance to select any detritus that I deem to be of artistic worth, although it may be necessary to do some tidying up after initial viewing. As I work in response to a given space the size of it can vary although, depending on how long I have to complete the work, it may be more realistic to work in a smaller space. I will need permission to work straight onto the walls, floor and ceiling, working with paint and glue and if possible, to drill holes. The less I need to be precious about the space, the better. I will also require step ladders to allow me to reach the walls and ceiling.   

Recent Work

Here are some examples of the exploartory interventions I have been conducting in my urban environment:

Copper Wire on Sign Post:

 Blue Chalk on Pavement:

Drawing Pins in Tree Trunk:

Gold Foil on Brick:

Stitching on Benches:

 Blue Dye and Pencil Crayon on Paving Stone:

Beads in Green Moss:

Cable Ties on Pipe:

Goldfinger on Bricks:

 

Green Dots on Wall:

Artist Statement

Hannah Wiles recently graduated with First Class Honours from the school of Art and Design at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is currently studying for her Masters Degree in Fine Art Textiles. Her practice is rooted in the urban environment and deals with issues surrounding dereliction and abandonment. She is concerned with regeneration, modernisation, and the smoothing over of the past to make way for a uniform space of consumption.

In her work she responds poetically to her built environment, drawing attention to the public realm that appears to have been rendered invisible to most through sheer force of habit. Working intuitively on city structures such as lamp posts, benches and brick walls, she uses non conventional medium such as thread, felt, drawing pins or glitter, in order to highlight their form. In this way, she would like to re-establish a sense of ownership within public space and reawaken a sense of wonder to our mundane experience of the city. She likes the idea that the unexpected can sometimes be realised in the transformation of the cracks and gaps from lifeless spots to extraordinary vibrant sites.

Her work has been described as a form of site-specific interventionism, as she interacts with an existing space in a way that may challenge the expectations of the intended audience, in the hope of reconstructing the urban narrative.