Issue 113 / April-May 2021

FESTIVAL
LIVERPOOL
BIENNIAL
until 27/06 – Various venues
Mark McNulty
Having installed sculptures and installations from the likes of Larry
Achiampong, Linder and Rashid Johnson across the city and launched an
online portal showcasing sonic and digital commissions, the Biennial’s ‘Inside’
chapter begins in May.
Flags by artist Larry Achiampong can already be found at 10 locations from
the Cunard Building to St George’s Hall. Other outdoor commissions include Rashid
Johnson’s Stacked Heads at Canning Dock, a piece by Teresa Solar at Exchange Flags
and Linder’s Bower Of Bliss at Liverpool One. Close by, the mural Mauvaise Alphabet by
Jorgge Menna Barreto has been unveiled on the side of Bluecoat.
The theme of this years festival is The Stomach and The Port with the timely aim of
exploring concepts of the body as fluid and being continuously shaped by, and actively
shaping its environment. In May, the Biennial’s partner venues will begin opening
exhibitions interrogating the theme. FACT host an exhibit by Black Obsidian Sound
System (B.O.S.S), a London-based collective who bring together queer, trans and nonbinary
black and people of colour involved in art, sound and radical activism through
projects influenced by sound system culture. Hong Kong based artist Zheng Bo will also
exhibit at the Ropewalks Square venue. The artist creates weedy gardens, living slogans
and eco-queer films.
Tate Liverpool host an expansive exhibition including the work of Jamaican artist
Ebony G. Patterson who works with embellished textiles to explore post colonialism,
working class identity and other disenfranchised communities. In the Bluecoat, mutual
exchange between humans and nature is explored in Laura Huertas Millán’s film, Jíibie,
which examines the cultural importance of the sacred coca leaf for the Muiná-Muruí
community in the Colombian Amazon. The work of photographer Zineb Sedira and
filmmaker Alberta Whittle will explore the meaning and social history of the world’s
oceans and docks in exhibits at Open Eye Gallery. Over in the Lewis’s Building an
eclectic collection of sculpture from artists such as Kathleen Ryan and Reto Pulfer look
at the body and what it means to be human.
FESTIVAL
INDEPENDENTS BIENNIAL
Until 06/06 – Various venues
Independents Biennial, the grassroots celebration of the creative culture that’s
brewing across the length and breadth of the Liverpool City Region will feature a
roster of emerging artists who will develop new and exciting perspectives on how
Merseysiders perceive and create art around them. Through various disciplines, the
artists in this year’s Independents Biennial focus on the art process itself, including how
the artists approach their practice and how that practice might mutate throughout the
duration of the programme.
Working in partnership with the Open Eye Gallery, Montse Mosquera, Feiyi Wen
and Sam Venables will explore themes of reverse culture shock when living in a foreign
country, interpretations of landscapes from different cultural perspectives and the reuse
of closed public houses as McDonald’s restaurants.
More Indy Biennial delights come in the form of a series of poems by quarterly
creative zine ROOT-ed – which promotes and supports creatives of colour in the North
West – and a portrait project by Mark Hobbs aimed at dismantling gendered views of
male parenting.
Meanwhile, Emmer Winder’s St Helens Social Pharmacy invites everyone to
share their own mantras, affirmations and phrases that have helped them through the
pandemic. Advice will be transformed into prescriptions on medicine bottles and shared
on Instagram (@socialprescriptiontracker) to promote wellbeing in the face of adversity.
Also exploring the experiences of 2020, Head of Photography at Carmel College
Kevin Crooks and writer Callan Waldron-Hall are collaborating on a project in the Thatto
Heath area of St Helens, which sees the combination of photography and redrafted
written accounts from locals create a snapshot of the area’s experiences and hopes for
the future.
Multimedia artist Sorrell Kerrison presents work exploring experiences of
motherhood, with a series of self-portraits taken before and after childbirth. SciArtist
Jay Hampton’s intimate exploration of mother nature aims to reappraise our perceptions
of what we consider to be weeds. Hampton’s project assesses UK public spaces left
unattended by councils as a result of lockdown, whose natural developments have
created havens for a host of wildlife species that are re-emerging as symbols of tenacity
and regrowth.
As we experience something of a rupture across our sociocultural zeitgeist – with
Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the murder of Sarah Everard and Covid-19 all demanding
a rethink of society’s inequalities – Sufea Mohamad Noor’s residence at Independents
Biennial will investigate the evolution of diversity and inclusion terminologies used
to describe racially marginalised groups, using academic research, exploring online
activism and holding discussions with PoC and allies. Using research and her
conversations, Sufea will produce text paintings in the studio as well as using Metal’s
kitchen and garden to create a shared experience in a pandemic.
Sam Venables, Hippo (2021)
PREVIEWS
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