DNA of artist provides ideas for first and last show of the year
LOUGHBOROUGH’S Old Rectory Museum, run by the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society, has hosted its first exhibition of this year – which will also be the exhibition that closes this extraordinary year’s events at the venue, writes Deborah Tyler
The exhibition was held in the venue’s Pantry Gallery – a highly successful art space in a building dating back to the twelfth century.
This year, whilst being challenging, has been an exciting one of change for the society, who said goodbye to their valued curator, Janet Slatter, and welcomed new museum curator, Alison Fearne.
The Rectory, which has now been fully fitted with Covid Safe equipment and signage, was able to open with an exhibition using timed arrivals and departures, guests staying in their bubbles to have a look round the exhibition, and with the regulation distancing – and all of these worked very well.
The Rectory had a good amount of visitor numbers and work from the exhibition sold quickly.
The exhibition, by artist Pasha Kincaid, was called Fragments Found (just the right title, some might think, for an exhibition hosted by an historical and archaeological society) and was based around an ancestral DNA test taken by the artist.
Pasha says: “In the 1970s in a school in rural Leicestershire, at the age of six, I was hounded into the back of the playground and told to go back to where I came from.”
This eventually led to an exploration of where Pasha actually did come from, a DNA ancestry test revealing eighteen roots to her origins ranging from Africa, Asia, and Europe. Places listed apart from the UK, include Nigeria, Portugal, India, Latvia, and Sweden.
In each artwork, Pasha takes a textile from one of these places, the poster for the exhibition being an image of the fragments stitched together to make a whole. The vibrant colours, complexities of pattern, and individual symbols, made for fascinating viewing.
The prints were made from photographic etching plates. Concertina sketchbooks, and a flag with the image of the combined textiles, were also on display. The white backgrounds and pale frames of the prints really highlighted the bright colours such as the rich pinks and lime greens of Pasha’s work.
It has been lovely for the new Rectory committee to end the year on a high and host an exhibition of such quality and vibrancy. Next year, the committee is planning more Covid Free Art events in its Pantry Gallery.
As such exhibitions in previous, Covid free, years, have been a great success – and bought in record visitor numbers.
As Pasha says: “This journey of discovery, dissecting my roots and then making them whole again has been immensely freeing and enjoyable. It has been my way of journeying back to where I came from.”