St Leonards exhibition explores "windows onto past moments"

Treatments, What We Find & What We Bring is the title of a new exhibition at Electro Studios Project Space, Electro Studios, Seaside Road, St Leonards, running on October 10 and 11 from 1pm-6pm.
St Leonard’s based artist Sophie Shaw. Pic by Sam Payne PhotographySt Leonard’s based artist Sophie Shaw. Pic by Sam Payne Photography
St Leonard’s based artist Sophie Shaw. Pic by Sam Payne Photography

It comes from St Leonard’s based artist Sophie Shaw.

“Early in 2019 I found a box of glass plate negatives in an antique shop on Goldstone Road in London,” Sophie explains.

“I found them really intriguing and ended up buying them – even though I was convinced they’d only end up in a drawer. But when I got them home I found that the more I looked, the more questions I had about them and I ended up trying to find out more about them.

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“This turned into the Treatments project, which is half research into the slides themselves and half a series of paintings which came out of them.

“The research (What We Find) has been really seductive because these little rectangles of glass are like windows onto these past moments, which seem familiar in a sense but utterly alien in another sense and, no matter how much I manage to see and find out, the moments themselves are, of course, completely inaccessible.

“The paintings (What We Bring) use the structure of the slides as a foundation for layering colour and texture – which results in a sort of projection onto the images, giving them an atmosphere which has come from me and what I make of them, rather than anything they are revealing themselves. The exhibition will provide a snapshot of this project as it is now.”

Sophie is a St Leonards based artist and narrative designer whose work centres on narrative. She works across exhibitions and experiences, co-creates participatory arts projects and is also developing her own individual artistic practice.

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While training as an art historian and curator she began making collages “as an exercise in setting up and disrupting meaning.” More recently, as she started to engage with relational dynamics coaching, she has been “exploring aspects of narrative development which operate though spacial, embodied and emotional channels”, she says.

Sophie’s narrative design work now falls under the banner of House of Cultural Curiosity (HoCC Ltd) which was formalised in 2019.

Her community interest company (HoCC CIC) was formed in 2016, and through this she is developing her socially engaged artistic practice, working with specific communities, fellow artists, designers and scientists to “explore the world with fresh eyes.”

Sophie added: “Due to COVID-19 only six people will be able to be in the exhibition at any one time.

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“You can avoid any possible wait by booking a time slot here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../treatments-what-we-find...

“You’re also very welcome to just turn up and we’ll get you in as quickly as possible.We’ll also be asking that you follow government guidelines by wearing a mask at all times when inside the exhibition (unless you are exempt) and by keeping at least two metres from anyone who is not in your bubble.”

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