EDITORIAL
Our Artist of the Month for August 2020 is Rupi Dhillon.
Rupi Dhillon is a British Indian, multidisciplinary artist based in Birmingham, UK.
Rupi explores the relationships and connections we have with one another and the land. Through her arts practice, she investigates how multiplicity in culture is conducive to the concept of belonging and space. She is interested in facilitating discourse around race, gender and social class. Using playful techniques, her current work reimagines cultural experience through gestalt expression, participatory performance, shared practices, gifting and attachments in found objects.
She has both exhibited and completed residencies in the UK and has also been the recipient of the prestigious Gertrude Aston Bowater Bequest as well as the AIS award more recently. Rupi has both a BA Hons and is working towards an MA in Fine Art. Rupi currently works with contemporary art gallery IKON in Birmingham.
We're still collecting donations for our Hardship Fund through our Gofundme page. All of the money we receive will go towards helping our members who have been affected by Covid-19 and the impact this has had on their practice.
#ArtistsSupportingArtists
In 2018, we started the ‘Models of Validation’ project, in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University and InnovateUK. Its aim was to understand more about the challenges faced by social practice artists.
Since then we’ve interviewed more than 40 social practice artists, commissioners and researchers, worked closely with our fantastic stakeholder group of 150 experts and commissioned a new programme dedicated to social practice, called Social Works?. This report, From Network to Meshwork: Validation for Social Practice Art and Artists by Lucy Wright and Amanda Ravetz is one of the outcomes of this work – and we are hugely excited to be able to share it with you now.
Have you listened to our podcast series Live Out Loud yet? It's a collection of conversations between artists around a specific topic and hosted by our Research and Development Coordinator, Lucy Wright. Check out the latest episodes below:
- Practice in Isolation with Beth Davis-Hofbauer and Chantal Powell >
- Social Art in the Time of Social Distancing with Rupi Dhillon, Sophie Bownes and Natasha Alexander >
- Notions of Care with Lady Kitt, Amelia Hawk and David Robinson >
- Radical Wellbeing with Radha Patel and Suzanne Dhaliwal >
- Parenthood with Emily Speed, Lauren McLaughlin and Robyn LeRoy-Evans >
- New World Order with Elsa James, R.M. Sanchez-Camus and Sian Williams >
You can also access these podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Podcasts!
For #Five2Watch this week we've selected five artists who have created paintings in red: Clare Chapman, Melanie Berman, James Lumsden, Julie Umerle and Freya Purdue.
New Art Highlights of the week includes Chantal Powell, Stuart Dodman, David Appleyard and Brighid Black.
CONTENT
FEATURE
Artist of the Month - Rupi Dhillon
Our Artist of the Month for August 2020 is Rupi Dhillon.
SUPPORT
A lot of artists are still struggling due to the impact of Covid-19, your support will mean a lot. Please donate what you can.
REPORT
A report on the Models of Validation project looking at artists working in social practice.
PODCAST
Live Out Loud - Conversations with Artists
A collection of conversations with artists and creative practioners about specific topics. Published every week on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple, Google and Stitcher.
FEATURE
This week we've selected five artists who have created paintings in red.
FEATURE
A selection of artworks that have been uploaded to our site recently.
RESOURCES
We've created a list of links to resources and advice for artists and freelancers during the coronavirus pandemic.