Manchester School of Art Degree Show 2016
Manchester School of Art boasts one of the largest offerings of art and design courses in the UK. The annual degree show is its opportunity to present this vast offering to the public and to celebrate the graduating class. This year, it does not disappoint.
The Holden Gallery hosts the BA Photography and Filmmaking cohort. Photography Alumni prizewinner and runner up of the Red Eye prize, Kristian Bird presents a series of images of constructed landscapes. In one piece, a photographic backdrop, an object normally used to create a static non-environment, is situated in a forest landscape. In making the backdrop the subject of the photograph, Bird questions if natural landscapes are merely a setting for human performance; a stage without the actors.
Upstairs, from Fine Art Painting and Print Media, Leo Robinson impresses with his presentation of ritual, shamanism and spirituality. A large quasi-religious triptych dominates the space with the central panel depicting a horse and cross. In front, a video of a shamanesque figure plays to a crowd of preview goers, positioning the viewers as the loyal followers of the horse deity.
Further along in the Fine Art show, Joanna Haworth’s sculptural forms disrupt the space, creating varying planes of sight. The imagery escapes the frames it is placed in, spilling out into the space, becoming a tangible object far removed from the digital realm. By taking pixels and transforming them into objects, Haworth has created a physicality to digital imagery that does not exist on screen.
[Joanna Haworth]
On the same floor, Anna Glinkina toys with the elements that make up a painting. By deconstructing these elements she creates sculptural forms that highlight the bare bones of what a painting is made of. In one piece, the pre-primed canvas is stretched not around, but over the canvas frame. In doing this, Glinka expands the field that the painting occupies. The rectangle frame that would usually present boundaries for the painter has in fact become the depicted form.
[Anna Glinkina - Untitled 0.1 (2016)]
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Showcase: Manchester School of Art alumna Marie Young
Downstairs, Sian Halfpenny’s animation and series of drawings at first glance appear to be 3D-rendered images, but on closer inspection they are in fact highly detailed illustrations of a male face. Each illustration shows the face gradually becoming covered in a liquid mass. The mass causes distortions to the appearance of the face, presenting an unsettling resemblance to Victorian death masks, creating a sense of the uncanny.
In the basement, Rebecca Halliwell-Sutton’s evocative sculptural work uses theories of the abject and the female body to present a subtle narrative about sexuality and fertility. Hanging from the ceiling is a large piece of silk printed with swashes of reds, pinks and purples, which, when placed alongside the other sculptural forms, is suggestive of female menstruation. The sensuality of the material presents a contrast to the bodily function it is representative of. Through her choice of materials, Halliwell-Sutton successfully treads the line between abjection and beauty, highlighting the societal and patriarchal regulation of the female body.
Further into the basement of the Grosvenor building, Sarah Wakefield’s installation invites the viewer to consider the narratives that objects can create. In a dimly lit room, coal is laid out on the floor in a rectangular form. The light from a singular hanging bulb allows viewers to see that there is a meticulous order to the positioning of the coal, with large bricks in the centre forming a straight line. As the installation spreads out to the sides, the coal has been worked and refined down until it becomes a fine powder at either end.
[Sarah Wakefield]
The installation offers the viewer an opportunity to consider the raw material, and reflect on the manual labour needed to process the material for human use. The coal is presented as a symbol of our industrial past and simultaneously as a stark reminder of how, through our consumption of it, we have caused damage to our climate and our own future. This piece feels particularly poignant as last month, for the first time in over 100 years, coal power usage fell to zero.
Over in the Benzie building, stand-out work comes from Holly Furniss. Her knitted textile pieces are made from plant-based yarns, taking a more ethical and sustainable approach to textile design. The collection is informed by the designer’s own abstract drawings from the streets of New York and would not seem out of place in a high-end womenswear store.
Similarly, Lily Read wows with her collection of brass jewellery. Using interlocking geometric forms, the collection draws inspiration from art and design movements resulting in striking, bold contemporary pieces.
Spread across three buildings, the Manchester School of Art degree show is an immense undertaking; two visits are almost certainly recommended to truly get a grasp of the magnitude of work on display.
Manchester School of Art degree show runs until 22 June
Sat-Sun 10am-4pm, Mon-Fri 10am-6pm
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