Picture a museum or gallery. It’s quiet, hushed. You’re intimidated as you walk in. The air is stiff and you’re not sure whether you should look at the frames and try to understand the art or settle for the walls instead.
Seeing Things, created by artist Matthew Wood with the support of local artists Klaire Doyle, Anna FC Smith, and Jess Fernhart, moves away from this experience by bringing art to underrepresented areas and to new audiences that museums and galleries struggle – and often care not – to reach. Seeing Things gathers the work of nine artists based in the North West: Alistair Woods, Anna FC Smith, Dustin Lyons, Ellie Towers, George Hale, Klaire Doyle, Matthew Wood, Simon Plum, and Ula Fung.
From the moment I entered The Edge in Wigan the range of colours and diverse types of art on display caught my eye. It was clear that there was no goal to the installation other than simply getting people through the door – a difficult task. But met with a clever solution, as people are quite literally “seeing things” and engaging in a natural, non-prescribed way. Exhibitions often intimidate when the people visiting don’t know anything about art. Yet when I walked around Seeing Things I had no fear of being an outsider; I was able to look upon the pieces, just think and interact with my own thoughts without worry.
A couple of pieces really caught my eye. Ula Fung’s Do People Face the Water or Away? is striking in its chaos. Honestly, I’m not sure what my feelings on the painting mean other than it resonated with me. Rather than looking for some profound analysis, I allowed myself to admire it. Inspired by a trip to the baths in Budapest, the piece plays on the ideas of memory which have been changed by time and how other images take their place. For me, the painting conveys the chaos of our minds and the world we live in. Perhaps my fellow observers pacing the room saw something totally different.
Dustin Lyon’s The Forest also captured my attention, with its reminders of how wonderful nature can often be. Interestingly, from the artist’s discussion of his process, the generative piece not only draws from the natural but also the scientific. Lyon pulls our entire existence into the spotlight, questioning whether humans are as biologically successful as they claim to be. At first the plants and organisms seemed just like that: plants and organisms. But with a bit of personal research into Lyon’s work a deeper, interconnected understanding – not much different to those endless underground root systems – can be achieved.
The Edge, being only fifteen minutes’ walk from the centre of Wigan, is a setting open to all. When I went to the exhibition on Friday 23 February there were a range of people there with me, from single adults to families with children. Klaire and Matt clearly had their hands full – not just to remind the kids to keep their hands off the art, but also to engage with them and spark conversations on how the art made them feel. Other galleries and museums could learn something from this kind of unpretentious, family-focused approach.
A large issue that looms over the exhibition’s focus is how underrepresented Wigan Borough is in the world of contemporary art. In the 50s through to early 60s, roughly 16% of artists were from a working-class background. Today that number has been gutted to 7.9% – less than half. Clearly, there’s a hunger – if not a total starvation – for collaborative projects like Seeing Things to bring radical art into an accessible and open setting where more people can engage in a culture that has for decades excluded them.
Fung, one of the artists mentioned above, commented how she was “…grateful for the opportunity to show [her] work in such an iconic space,” but lamented that more momentum is needed to allow this kind of art to thrive in Wigan and the wider North West.
Still, Seeing Things is an exhibition which offers a welcoming and safe space far from the intimidating gaze of museums and galleries. As someone from a working-class background, the exhibition felt warm and allowed me to reflect and ponder my thoughts – something modern life rarely affords us the chance to do. As an art novice I’ve been left wanting more. And so I say: please, let’s see some more.
Seeing Things ran until Thursday, February 29 at The Edge, Wigan
LOIS BARNETT
is a writer and third-year university student. She writes about local art and culture on her blog.
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