Interventions for 'With These Walls We Are Shaped' WCS

For this exhibition I submitted a proposal to make new site-specific work that would build on the work I had carried out at Tito's, a four week residency in a derelict bakery.

As previously discussed, I have apprehensions about the speed at which regeneration is taking place. It seems to me that the existing city fabric is being systematically destroyed and removed in aspiration of a uniform space of consumption where sensory deprivation is inherent. In light of this I was particularly interested in Wolstenholme Creative Space’s change of use from a textile factory into an art space.

Ultimately, I wanted to challenge how this space of indeterminacy may be perceived, drawing on the importance of such a site with regard to the memories it encapsulates, acknowledging the lives lived within. Utilising the fact WCS is not just a plain, one-surface, white gallery, I proposed to focus my work on the imperfections of the space as a counter attack on the modernist dream; a sharp look at the reality of faceless existence.

Here are images of the six pieces that I made throughout the building:

Untitled (White Stickers)

                                                               

Untitled (Green Beads)



Untitled (Gold Pins)



Untitled (Green Felt)

Untitled (Orange Thread)

Untitled (Goldfinger, Green Thread, Copper Flake)

Through this tactile work I hope that I have transformed the space in a way that will encourage interaction and confront how people respond to such a building. Utilising understated techniques, I aim to transform the overlooked and make it precious. The experience of making the work on site, in response to the building was important and has been an interesting challenge.

As my work is small in nature and often subtle, there is an element of surprise on discovering the small scale interventions that have taken place around the building. This is the first time I have had the opportunity to show my work as it exists in situ, rather than displaying documentation of work created elsewhere. It has been interesting to observe how people interact with the work upon discovery and also how it sometimes gets overlooked.



Titos Work
The following images are of work completed during a 4 week residency in an abandoned building in Liverpool.

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.