This exhibition presents artworks by Gem Douglas and Shirin Naveed that explore notions of home, shelter and stability in the context of human experiences of displacement.
Using found materials associated with the domestic, Gem Douglas creates sculptural installations that suggest extreme instability through their delicate construction and makeshift aesthetic. Whilst drawing attention to the fragile situations in which much of the world’s displaced populations live, the works also act as a celebration of people’s resilience, resourcefulness and creativity in building and improving the physical environments around us in spite of precarious conditions.
With an interest in the relationship between migration and architecture, Shirin Naveed’s work is concerned with presenting the physical shelters that govern the lives of much of the world’s diaspora communities. Through her large scale paintings and drawings onto building materials, she contrasts ‘temporary’ housing and the infamous refugee camp with the stable and relatively immutable infrastructures that many of us take for granted.
Gem Douglas
Gem graduated in 2017 with BA Fine Art from Birmingham City University. Her work was recently exhibited in New Art West Midlands 2018.
Shirin Naveed
With parents from different diasporas, and immigrating to England from a young age herself, Birmingham-based artist Shirin Naveed makes sense of her tricultural heritage through objective questioning of home and migration through architecture and space. She will be starting her studies in Architecture later this year.
This exhibition launch is part of Refugee Week 2018.
Exhibition opening evening:
Tuesday 19th June, 6.30pm - 8pm.
FB event:
Exhibition:
Shifting Structures
19th June - 21st July
