Storm

Rachel Gadsden & the Deluge Collective

17th April → 14th May 2021

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The Deluge Collective is a diverse international collaboration of artists, musicians, and writers. We explore ways that expression moves between our individual artistic practices, to reveal deeper ideas of our shared humanity. Underpinning the creative process is the ambition to embed disability access as a central part of our aesthetic vision.

Criw cydweithiol amrywiol rhyngwladol o artistiaid, cerddorion ac ysgrifenwyr yw’r Deluge Collective. Ein nod yw archwilio ffyrdd y mae mynegiant yn symud rhwng ein hymarferion celfyddydol unigol, i ddatgelu syniadau dyfnach am ein cyd-ddynoliaeth. Yn sail i’r broses greadigol mae’r uchelgais i sicrhau bod mynediad i’r anabl yn rhan greiddiol o’n gweledigaeth esthetig.

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“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

“Ac unwaith y bydd y storm ar ben, fyddi di ddim yn cofio sut y doist ti drwyddi, sut y llwyddaist ti i oroesi. Fyddi di ddim hyd yn oed yn siŵr a yw’r storm ar ben go iawn … Pan ddoi di allan o’r storm, fyddi di ddim yr un person a gerddodd i mewn. Dyna hanfod y storm hon.”

Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

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Rachel Gadsden believes the persuasive Murakami quote consciously expresses the emotional and physical disarticulation so many individuals and communities have experienced over the last year, as the Covid 19 virus swept around the world and overwhelmed everyone. Isolated in her studio in London since February 2020, Gadsden has been drawing and painting constantly.

The Storm Exhibition of new artworks captures personal and universal experiences, past and present, of a world in crisis. Notions of isolation and silence, survival and hope, are to be found here, underpinned by an authentic appreciation of how precious every breath has become for everyone.

For now, Gadsden remains isolated. She is unable to develop her own antibodies and so receives a weekly infusion instead. Her isolation will end when ‘herd immunity’ has been achieved, and those same infusions include a Covid 19 antibody component. Inspired by BayArt’s Butetown Artists group, Gadsden at the beginning of lockdown fulfilled an ambition to form an artistic Collective of UK and International disabled and non-disabled creatives. Working each within the confines of their own isolation but connected by social media platforms and having such freedoms as are afforded by contemporary technology. The Collective has created Deluge a multimedia film using drawing, painting, animation, live art, sound, and poetry to reflect upon the personal and collective physical and psychological experiences of the evolving Global Covid-19 pandemic: isolation, immunity, the necessity to remain hopeful.

The Deluge Collective are visual and performance artists Rachel Gadsden, UK, Jeremy Hawkes, Australia, Siu Fong Yeung, Hong Kong, composer and sound director Freddie Meyers, UK, violinist Emily Earl, UK, and spoken word poet Colin Hambrook, UK.

Mae Rachel Gadsden yn credu bod y dyfyniad argyhoeddiadol hwn o waith Murakami yn fynegiant ymwybodol o’r datgymalu emosiynol a chorfforol y mae cymaint o unigolion a chymunedau wedi’i brofi dros y flwyddyn ddiwethaf, wrth i feirws Covid 19 ledaenu dros y byd a llethu pawb. Wedi’i hynysu yn ei stiwdio yn Llundain ers Chwefror 2020, mae Gadsden wedi bod yn tynnu lluniau ac yn peintio yn gyson.

Mae Arddangosfa Storm yn cyflwyno gweithiau celf newydd sy’n cyfleu profiadau personol a chyffredinol, ddoe a heddiw, o fyd mewn argyfwng. Ceir yma syniadau am unigrwydd a distawrwydd, goroesiad a gobaith, wedi’u seilio ar werthfawrogiad dilys o ba mor werthfawr y mae pob anadl i bawb erbyn hyn.

Am nawr, mae Gadsden yn dal wedi’i hynysu. Nid yw’n gallu datblygu ei gwrthgyrff ei hun ac felly mae’n cael trwythiad wythnosol. Daw ei hynysiad i ben pan fydd ‘imiwnedd torfol’ wedi’i sicrhau, a bydd yr un trwythiadau hynny’n cynnwys cydran gwrthgorffyn Covid 19. Wedi’i hysbrydoli gan grŵp Artistiaid Butetown BayArt, ar ddechrau’r cyfnod clo cyflawnodd Gadsden uchelgais o ffurfio Cydweithfa Gelfyddydol o bobl greadigol anabl a heb anabledd drwy Brydain ac yn Rhyngwladol. Gan weithio bob un o fewn cyfyngiadau eu sefyllfa ynysig eu hunain ond wedi’u cysylltu trwy lwyfannau cyfryngau cymdeithasol a chyda’r rhyddid a gynigir gan dechnoleg gyfoes, mae’r Gydweithfa wedi creu Deluge, ffilm amlgyfrwng sy’n defnyddio lluniadu, peintio, animeiddio, celf fyw, sain a barddoniaeth i fyfyrio ar brofiadau corfforol a seicolegol personol a thorfol pandemig byd-eang esblygol Covid-19: ynysiad, imiwnedd, a’r rheidrwydd i ddal i obeithio.

Aelodau’r Deluge Collective yw’r artistiaid gweledol a pherfformiadol Rachel Gadsden, DU, Jeremy Hawkes, Awstralia a Siu Fong Yeung, Hong Kong, y cyfansoddwr a’r cyfarwyddwr sain Freddie Meyers, DU, y feiolinydd Emily Earl, DU, a’r bardd llafar Colin Hambrook, DU.

Deluge

DELUGE

Using performance, visual art, digital animation, poetry, and sound, the artists, performers, musician, and composer have narratively considered how the Covid-19 pandemic has fractured and shifted all of our lives on one level or another. Through the metaphorical ravishes of the pandemic, we all feel psychologically displaced to some degree or another, as we learn to exist and live our lives differently, in our newfound Covid World.

An evolving experimental performance artwork, Deluge is presented as a digital work where an atmospheric emotive sound scope inhabits the performance emotionally echoing the visual elements of the piece.

The Deluge Collective is a diverse international collaboration of artists, musicians, and writers who explore ways that expression moves between our individual artistic practices, to reveal deeper ideas of shared humanity. Underpinning the creative process is the ambition to embed disability access as a central part of our aesthetic vision.

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Graphic Scores

GRAPHIC SCORE  I
Jeremy Hawkes – Drawing
Emily Earl – Violin

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GRAPHIC SCORE  II
Siu Fong Yeung – Painting
Emily Earl – Violin & Viola

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GRAPHIC SCORE  III
Rachel Gadsden – Drawing
Emily Earl – Violin

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Storm

EXODUS
Rachel Gadsden – 2020
76cm x 56cm

Within a dramatic stormy seascape, a tortured figure dominates centrally, as if suspended above the water. A small vessel packed full of desperate struggling people drifts to the right of the figure, while a tall ship can be seen sinking in the rough sea on the horizon in the distance.
Close up detail of the tall ship sinking, with its sails lit by the bright light of the moon and the central figure tumbling into the sea.
Close up detail of the small vessel packed full of desperate struggling people drifting in the water to the right of the figure in the stormy sea.

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Brown sepia portrait drawing of a man with his head, his bulging eyes are almost closed, and he is in deep melancholic reflection.

DRIFT  I
Rachel Gadsden – 2020
36cm x 28cm

Brown sepia and black charcoal portrait drawing of a man standing, his eyes are closed, but the spotlights around him illuminate his head.

DRIFT  II
Rachel Gadsden – 2020
36cm x 28cm

Brown sepia portrait drawing of a man, his bulging eyes are almost closed, the rough scratched surface of marks and scribbles is unsettling.

DRIFT  III
Rachel Gadsden – 2020
36cm x 28cm

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IN THE SHADOWS OF THE STORM
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
76cm x 56cm

In a stormy seascape three men circle around seemingly without direction, while microscopic viruses’ whirl around them, in the distance a tall ship can be seen departing into a moonlit horizon.
Close up detail of the central figure lit by the moon is seemingly running away from the virus as it encircles him, to the lower right another figure looks pensive, and the tall ship is visible top left.
Close up detail Circular putrid jewel like coloured macrobiotic virus shapes float across the image to the right are scribbled lines that form the man’s leg.

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Out of the shadows of an atmospheric ink coloured landscape a single figure stands defiant, arms braced with the hands clenched at head height as gesture of victory.

IN THE SHADOWS  I
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
38cm x 29cm

Out of the shadows of an expressionistic atmospheric ink coloured landscape, a single blind folded man figure stands clasping a staff, his deep red lips and the alizarin crimson behind the head draws attention and as sweep of circular paint begins to engulf him.

IN THE SHADOWS  II
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
38cm x 29cm

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MIGRATION ISOLATION CONTAINER
Rachel Gadsden – 2020
70cm x 50cm

A constricted crouched figure fills the entire container space, thrashing to push at all the walls in an attempt to escape, breathless, from the airless metal space.

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In a darkened black, ochre and red space, a despairing figure sits hunched over holding onto a handrail attached to a flight steps, for strength, head bowed down he clearly feels the pain and trauma of migration.

MIGRATION  I
Rachel Gadsden – 2020
38.5cm x 28.5cm

Within a confined shipping container space, a disconsolate figure sits cramped in the corner with his legs bend double, one arm is stretched out holding the roof. The figure gazes out, melancholic with rejection and the hopelessness of his flight.

MIGRATION  II
Rachel Gadsden – 2020
38.5cm x 28.5cm

A single lonely figure sits sleeping, his head leaning on prayer clasped hands. Yellow ochre, red and black hues wrap around the form highlighting the claustrophobic energy of the shipping container space. There is no sense of escape or release as the man dreams.

MIGRATION  III
Rachel Gadsden – 2020
38.5cm x 28.5cm

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WHAT THIS STORM IS ALL ABOUT
Rachel Gadsden – 2020
29cm x 38.5cm

In a deep crimson ruby landscape gold figures cascade like furies from above. In the left lower corner, a figure cowers in the shadows, and a sharp shard of light darts across the narrative an illuminating a gilded figure centre right, as it rises Christ like to the heavens.

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BREATHE I
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
35cm x 25cm

In a grey olive-green space, a maroon ochre coloured wispy anatomical figure seems to spin, traces of movement and swirls enwrap the figure as the spinal structure supports life skeletal human form.

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BREATHE II
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
35cm x 25cm

In a rich deep crimson, violet, orange black space, a delicate anatomical figure spins, wing like arms envelope the figure, and you see the ribcage structure and there is a sense of a figure sucking in air struggling to breathe.
Close up details of anatomical heads and the ribcage, lungs and thoracic spine as the figure spins draw attention to the figure breathing deeply in the deep crimson, violet, orange black space.

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IN THE SILENCE I
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
50.5cm x 38.5cm

In a black space a solo melancholic figure a naked woman sits crossed legged. One hand grips her lower calf with a claw shaped hand. Head down in a melancholic repose, a dramatic chalk aura white circle encloses the figure. Rich colours of maroon, rich browns and powder blue enhance the mood of the woman.

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IN THE SILENCE II
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
50.5cm x 38.5cm

In a dark room a solitary expressionistic drawn figure relaxes seated on a red chair, one leg is extended the other bent. One hand is rests behind the head while the other is across the chest. Rapid painted marks enwrapping the figure bring drama, enhancing the shape of the anatomical form.

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IN THE SILENCE III
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
50.5cm x 38.5cm

A solitary figure rests on a red platform in a taupe space. Rapid drawn graphic circles enwrap the lonely form as you are drawn to the head where lamenting eyes gaze out to you. A splash of deep yellow marks guides your eyes around the form to bring a sense of hope.

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SHIBARI BOUNDARIES
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
76cm x 56cm

In a struggle of wrestling shapes and human figure emerge in the rich jewel coloured space, arms and legs flay around reaching out to grab a tensioned rope, which interrupts the space ceiling to floor. Eventually you are drawn to a female head which reaches out search for help or passion, Shibari, the art of Japanese rope bondage, comes to mind.

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Angelicas pale crystal blue eyes stare out, and fluffy, wild, pale light blond hair frames her face. A deep red mark across the right cheek catches your eye, before you see her rich defined strong lips. She is wearing a black high neck top.

ANGELICA I
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
38cm x 29 cm

In this portrait of Angelica her hair is hidden entwined within a deep black, maroon and blue scarf. Searching crystal pale blue eyes stare out to you, her large defined lips are slightly open, while a pale-yellow glow behind enhances her beauty.

ANGELICA II
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
38cm x 29 cm

Angelica’s wild yellow candy floss like hair fills the space. Melancholic in repose, she stares out through her crystal pale blue eyes, distracted by her inner thoughts. Her dense black top brings a sense of stability and control.

ANGELICA III
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
38cm x 29 cm

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In space 3 expressionistically drawn figures occupy the space, one paces in the background, while another is sat head down in possible desolation. Turquoise blue and burnt sienna brown saturate the space with sweeps of charcoal defining the chapel like room.

CHAPEL I
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
38cm x 29cm

In a background of hues of turquoise blue, a woman with her eyes tightly closed, holds her head with her hands, in a prayer like pose.

CHAPEL II
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
38cm x 29cm

Three figures fill the Chapel like space, poised in reflection. Reflected light spot lights each form where the pink figure to the right in the foreground stands resolute.

CHAPEL III
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
38cm x 29cm

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GOLD ANTIBODIES
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
76cm x 56cm

A burnt sienna figure sits armless and cross legged in a pale pink hue space. Speckles of gold dust and gold leaf shower down onto the figure, as antibody like shapes emerge in the centre.

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Created as a moving artwork for the Deluge performance film, a distinctive armless figure struggles and thrashes within a space defined by vertical strokes of paint and rapid expressionistic white grey brush marks.

TEMPEST I
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
56cm x 76cm

Created as a moving artwork for the Deluge performance film, a single armless figure writhes around in a darkened empty space, traces of choral red luminates around the edges of the space.

TEMPEST II
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
56cm x 76cm

Created as a moving artwork for the Deluge performance film, a single armless figure, seen in as multiple traces, fill the space. Circular marks enwrap the tension of the forms engulfed by a rich red orange hue and a clearly defined floor is marked out tracking the vigorous action of the figure.

TEMPEST III
Rachel Gadsden – 2021
56cm x 76cm

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On a white background a beautiful green and blue virus like form wriggles across the space seeming to multiply as it’s tentacle like extremities move and expand.

FLEUR DE MAL 2 
Jeremy Hawkes – 2021
43cm x 29.5cm

On a white background a multicoloured microorganism transcends vertically in the space. Green, blue, yellow and pink germ like shapes fill the space like a beautiful exotic flower like form. Violet moon shape forms a headlike shape, giving the virus a sense of being human.

FLEUR DE MAL 5 
Jeremy Hawkes – 2021
43cm x 29.5cm

On a white background a gold violet germ wriggles across the space. Animalistic in shape with tentacles and horns and tails the microorganism is both jewel like and terrifying.

FLEUR DE MAL 6 
Jeremy Hawkes – 2021
43cm x 29.5cm

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On a white background a blue and red virus germ fills the space echoing human organ shapes. Ribbon like forms wrap around multiplying clusters of cells. It is beautiful, a cunning ploy to potential secrete the virulent nature of the virus.

DELUGE 97 
Jeremy Hawkes – 2020
23cm 30.5cm

On a white background a biro blue and red organism fills the space, clearly multiplying and expanding as it moves. Clusters of red and blue cells create beautiful shapes, hiding perhaps the infectious nature of the virus.

CELL 6
Jeremy Hawkes – 2020
23cm 30.5cm

On a white background an unworldly cluster of organic forms fill the space. Seemingly depicting an ariel view of a landscape, the form is clearly macrobiotic. Red, blue and violet cells twist and entwine into striking delicate forms, to create a mass of viral rapture.

CELL 5 
Jeremy Hawkes – 2020
23cm 30.5cm

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Created as a graphic score, this still from the digital film is a dynamic landscape created through calligraphic and brush like marks. Suggests of ancient Chinese landscapes fill your imagination as the subtle colours of black, grey, olive and red articulate and punctuate the dynamic space.

LANDSCAPE (GRAPHIC SCORE)
Sui Fong Yeung – 2020
Detail from Digital Film

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ANTIBODIES
Rachel Gadsden – 2020
76cm x 56cm

A single delicate drawn white wispy human form fills the dense black space as a cluster of red and grey molecular cells enwrap the figure. A sharp needle like shape appears to inject the figure from below, to give a sense that this is not a killer cell but are antibodies.

Rachel Gadsden

www.rachelgadsden.com

Rachel Gadsden (UK) is a disabled and visually impaired artist and director. Expressionist in approach, she creates solo exhibitions, performances and collaborative social engagement art projects with disabled, vulnerable and mainstream communities nationally and internationally, through painting, performance, digital film, with the object of developing cross-cultural dialogues considering universal notions of humanity.

Mae Rachel Gadsden (y DU) yn artist a chyfarwyddwr a chanddi anabledd a nam ar y golwg. Yn fynegiannol ei harddull, mae’n creu arddangosfeydd unigol, perfformiadau a phrosiectau ymgysylltu cymdeithasol cydweithiol gyda chymunedau anabl, bregus a phrif-ffrwd ym Mhrydain a thramor, trwy waith peintio, perfformiad, a ffilmio digidol, gyda’r nod o ddatblygu deialogau trawsddiwylliannol sy’n ystyried syniadau hollgyffredinol am ddynoliaeth.

Emily Earl

www.emilyearl.com

Emily Earl (Wales) is a violinist who’s practice is varied and diverse. She won the Beares London Bow Prize from the Royal Academy of Music and her playing encompass both newly commissioned works and period instrument performance. Emily conceptualises music around the concepts of expression and communication and the Deluge collective provides an intriguing space, where concepts of chamber music can be extended to the wider arts.

Mae Emily Earl (Cymru) yn feiolinydd amrywiol ac amrywiaethol ei hymarfer. Enillodd wobr Bow Prize Beares London gan y Royal Academy of Music ac mae ei repertoire yn cynnwys gweithiau newydd eu comisiynu a pherfformiadau ar offerynnau o’r oes o’r blaen. Mae Emily yn amgyffred cerddoriaeth o amgylch cysyniadau mynegiant a chyfathrebu, ac mae’r Deluge Collective yn cynnig gofod hynod ddifyr lle gellir ymestyn cysyniadau cerddoriaeth siambr i’r celfyddydau ehangach.

Colin Hambrook

www.outsidein.org.uk

Colin Hambrook (UK) is an artist, poet, performer, writer, and editor of Disability Arts Online. He makes drawings, paintings, and mixed media artworks alongside an extensive practice of published writing, which reflects his status as a disabled artist. “Knitting Time” – a research and development project, reflected on ‘loss’ as a trigger for psychosis, including the production of a beautiful book of poems and drawings.

Mae Colin Hambrook (y DU) yn artist, bardd, perfformiwr, sgrifennwr a golygydd Disability Arts Online. Mae’n creu lluniadau, paentiadau a gweithiau celf cyfrwng cymysg ochr yn ochr â’i waith ysgrifennu helaeth sydd wedi’i gyhoeddi, a hwnnw’n adlewyrchu ei statws fel artist anabl. Roedd ei brosiect “Knitting Time” – prosiect ymchwil a datblygu – yn fyfyrdod ar ‘golled’ fel ysgogydd seicosis, ac yn cynnwys llyfr hardd o gerddi a lluniadau.

Jeremy Hawkes

www.jeremyhawkes.com.au

Jeremy Hawkes (Australia) is a disabled practicing artist, arts worker, writer, and sometimes performer. He has exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas for over 20 years, most recently at the Berlin Art Institute as part of a Create NSW Fellowship, the Lone Goat Gallery in Byron Bay, and a solo exhibition at the Lismore Regional Gallery.

Mae Jeremy Hawkes (Awstralia) yn artist anabl, yn weithiwr yn y celfyddydau, yn awdur ac weithiau’n berfformiwr. Mae wedi arddangos ei waith yn helaeth yn Awstralia a thros y môr ers 20 mlynedd a mwy, yn fwyaf diweddar yn Sefydliad Celf Berlin fel rhan o Gymrodoriaeth Create NSW, y Lone Goat Gallery yn Byron Bay, ac arddangosfa un dyn yn Oriel Ranbarthol Lismore.

Freddie Meyers

www.freddiemeyers.com

Freddie Meyers (UK) is a composer, trumpet player, and musical director of @bandwidthensemble which explores the temporality of live music in the online environment. His music explores the way that disparate elements can sit together to create new and exciting sonorities. Part of his practice has focused on collaborations with levantine musicians, navigating ways that different musical cultures can exist as one.

Mae Freddie Meyers (y DU) yn gyfansoddwr, trwmpedwr a chyfarwyddwr cerdd gyda @bandwidthensemble sy’n archwilio byrhoedledd cerddoriaeth fyw yn yr amgylchfyd ar-lein. Mae ei gerddoriaeth yn archwilio’r ffordd y gall elfennau cwbl wahanol gydeistedd i greu seiniau newydd a chyffrous. Mae rhan o’i ymarfer wedi canolbwyntio ar gydweithio gyda cherddorion Lefantaidd, gan ymchwilio i ffyrdd y gall gwahanol ddiwylliannau cerddorol gydfodoli fel un.

Siu Fong Yeung

@siufong_yeung

Siu Fong Yeung (Hong Kong) is a disabled visual and performance artist. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) from RMIT University and Hong Kong Art School. Yeung has extensive experience in performance, video, installation and painting and has exhibited her work in Hong Kong and Internationally.

Mae Siu Fong Yeung (Hong Kong) yn artist gweledol a pherfformiadol anabl. Enillodd radd Baglor y Celfyddydau (Celfyddyd Gain) ym Mhrifysgol RMIT ac Ysgol Gelf Hong Kong. Mae gan Yeung brofiad helaeth ym maes perfformiad, fideo, gosodwaith a pheintio ac mae wedi arddangos ei gwaith yn Hong Kong a thros y byd.