Call-out for an exhibition of contemporary artwork investigating confrontational crossings, overcoming barriers & freedom of movement. Madeira, July 2024.

Concept:

We are facing many barriers globally where our identities are being bruised, rejected, and turned away. This leaves a tension for bodies, thoughts, and circumstances to be accepted and co-exist.

Artists are invited to contest and question what it means to face barriers. Often our artworks have been declined from being shown and exhibited.

This exhibition gives an opportunity for the art to migrate. There may not be a utopia, but there are ways of overcoming barriers.

Imagine the artwork being personified. What would it say if it had freedom of movement, no immigration law, finding asylum and a sense of belonging without being displaced?

Artists are invited to submit 2D explorative and experimental photographic/ collage/ drawing work/s that relate to the concept.

Size:

Acceptable size: No larger than 66cm x 38cm (26” x 15”)

Ultimately, it will fit in a suitcase and be able to travel to its destination.

Where & When:

Gallery: ARTE.M, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal.  

Dates: 3 weeks in July 2024 - exact dates TBC

Application:

To apply please send up to 3 jpeg images of the work (include dimensions & medium) and an approximately 50-100 word statement about how the work links to the theme. 

Artists will be notified of acceptance approx. 1 week after the closing date. Further details regarding logistics will be provided to successful artists.

Please note that the submission process is free but if artists are selected, they are required to pay a £10 (GBP) administration fee which covers promotion, space hire, marketing and admin costs.

We would love to see your work.

I am the curator for this exhibition to be shown at Arte.M gallery in Funchal, Madeira this July. 

My practice involves fictional narratives, a play on found visuals, language and text. This is done through manipulating images, experimental photography, installation and analogue film and writing. I am interested in correspondence, communication, connectivity and collaboration and this is extended through my international curatorial projects.

My aims in curating are to bring artists together from different parts of the world to create dialogue about global issues, to share our voices through our artwork and for me to promote your practice internationally. The exhibition will put you in contact with each other and celebrate your voices.

I look forward to seeing what your art says about you. 

About the curator:

Diana has a BA (Hons) Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University and a Masters in Contemporary Fine Art Curating/ Practice from Sheffield Hallam University. She is also a Fellowship in Higher Education (HFEA Status). She is a BAFTA nominee, has an outstanding alumni award from NTU and has CLORE leadership training.

As a Visual Artist, she has exhibited regionally, nationally at the TINAG festival, London and Site Gallery, Sheffield and solo at the Airspace Gallery, Hanley. Her international exhibitions include The Library Artspace, Victoria, Australia, The Crafts Fair in San Francisco, The Roaming Biennial in Tehran and the Other Asia’s exhibition ‘ReDo Pakistan’ in Karachi, Pakistan and has been featured in The Disarmory Newspaper in New York.

To date she has independently curated fourteen shows. National projects include ‘Up & Coming’ at the CUC in Liverpool, an event showcasing 60 emerging national and international artists, ‘Subversive Correspondence’ featuring fifty artists in London and Bristol and ‘Dialogues: A Fake Romance?’ in Swansea with thirty artists. Internationally, she has curated in countries with cultural divides; ‘A State of Un-Play’ at Atelier 35 in Romania, ‘Engagement and Entrapment’ in Israel and Palestine, Cyprus and South Korea. ‘Loss & Lucidity’ in California and Lisbon, which was her largest show featuring 60 international artists.
 
She is currently working with promoting and advocating the importance of creative thinking and making in different sectors outside of art. She has given presentations and workshops at the Institute of Mental Health, Nottingham University, Southwark Cathedral, KPMG, Archaeology groups (DNMGS), Haringey Council (business & Art) and schools and communities centres (well-being, domestic violence issues, race and disability). She currently teaches at Loughborough University and Open College of the Arts.