GROUP EXHIBITION, PUBLICATION & PERFORMANCE:
A new text work exhibited as part of a group exhibition organised by Inland Project, with a performance by Laura on 20 October…
Works by Joanne Newman, Laura Dee Milnes and Ellen Witley at To Whom the Flesh My Flesh Still Connects Me, The Poetry Society, London. Image courtesy of Inland Project.
To whom the flesh / My flesh / Still connects me
Exhibition: 17 October – 9 November
The Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2H 9BX
Publication Launch and Performances: Connecting the Flesh: Sunday 20 October, 4-6pm. Performances by: Isobel Atacus, Luca Asta, Paul Coombs, Laura Dee Milnes
Taking place as part of Art Licks Weekend 2019, To Whom The Flesh sees contemporary visual artists and poets responding to queer poetry’s cannon, reinterpreting and bringing the bookmark to burning life.
Focusing on queer desire To whom the flesh/ My flesh/ Still connects me explores queer poetry’s cannon through a series of new work from contemporary visual artists and poets. Queer poetry is expansive and diverse. Writers of all backgrounds and sexual identities have captured their varied experiences and feelings of love in the expressive medium of poetic verse. Walt Whitman used the natural symbolism of the calamus plant and its “phallic-shaped bloom” to celebrate homoeroticism in his work the Leaves of Grass. Audre Lorde vividly eroticised the female body in Love Poem with sensual descriptions such as: “honey flowed / from the split cup / impaled on a lance of tongues.”. This group show, curated by Inland Project at The Poetry Society, seeks to connect a range of voices and perspectives that all coalesce to present a complex, nuanced, picture of the queer experience of love. To whom the flesh is an act of celebration and solidarity, bringing visual arts and poetry communities together.
Participating Artists include: Luca Asta / Isobel Atacus / L. Barron / Paul Coombs / Chloe Cooper / Penny Florence / Roxmann Gatt / Sam Hill / Paul Kindersley / Katherine Leedale / Laura Dee Milnes / Steph Morris / Jason Morris Danino Holt / Joanne Newman / Leyli Salayeva / Ellen Witley
Curated by Sylwia Narbutt, Flora Bradwell and Scott Lawrence Macfadyen
PODCAST:
A new podcast, launching during Art Licks Weekend…
Working Podclasst – Benji Jeffrey and Laura Dee Milnes
Broadcast: Sunday 20 October at 6.58pm
on Art Licks Weekend Radio / RTM.FM and available online as a podcast soon
Event: Working Podclasst LIVE! at Coventry Biennial 2019, 21 November, 3-5pm
as part of the Partisan Social Club programme (more details and links as they are published)
Working Podclasst is a conversation by and for people who identify as Working Class and who exist, somehow, in this magical kingdom we call “The Art World”. Hosted by artists and art-workers Benji Jeffrey and Laura Dee Milnes, each episode will revolve around a topic relating to this theme. This first episode is an introduction to the series which touches on (among other things) socio-economic status and steakhouse grills. Expect Northern lilts and plenty of chips on shoulders (with gravy). Benji Jeffrey and Laura Dee Milnes.
GROUP EXHIBITION:
Laura’s work I’m Every Woman (2011-19) is part of a group exhibition in London…
Laura Dee Milnes, I’m Every Woman (2011-19). Video still.
until Sunday 8 November 2019
@ Southwark Park Galleries (Lake Gallery)
RE: marks the 36th anniversary of the Bermondsey Artists’ Group, who formed one year before they established the gallery. It celebrates the diversity and charts creative approaches and evolving processes of this membership.
The exhibition brings together work by over 50 local artists. who are reflecting on or revisiting work they were making the year they joined the group. Some of the works go back to the early years of the group’s existence; while the rest joined somewhere along the 36 year timeline.
Each of the works has been selected by the artist to reflect upon their membership of the BAG and how their practice has developed during that period; reconsidering, reconstructing and reinventing.
This large-scale group show weaves together multiple voices and histories by artists who live in close proximity to the gallery. This is London at its best; bringing together stories, visions and interpretations of the world around us. Some artists have chosen to revisit early works, some of which have not survived or have deteriorated, some have been entirely reworked and re-energised, these artists are engaging in dialogue with their former selves and a former Bermondsey. In Re, we experience multiple voices and lifelong fascinations by artists of all disciplines and at all stages of their careers, all presented together, equally. In essence, this bi-annual show illustrates the rich artistic community of the Bermondsey Artists’ Group which continues to thrive 36 years on.
RE offers an opportunity for us all to understand our present by taking the time to stop and look back. It brings together new and old members of the group that has been instrumental in making Southwark the culturally rich borough it is today.
Many of the artists exhibit pieces from their on-going current practice. For them, Re has offered an opportunity to consider where they are now as contemporary visual artists in an ever-changing London art community. Many of them recognise that even though their work has changed over the years, they are still working around similar themes, thoughts and concerns.
Membership of the Bermondsey Artists’ Group stands for inclusivity and equality, and acts as an artistic voice in support of Southwark Park Galleries’ creative and socially engaged endeavours.
Re is generously supported by Arts Council England and Southwark Council.
PUBLICATION:
View of Melo Börner’s publication to accompany her work in the exhibition HYDRA – Goldrausch 2019, featuring text by Laura Dee Milnes. Image courtesy Melo Börner.
Exhibition: 25 October – 8 December 2019
Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin, Germany
The Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt exhibits the works of 15 international women artists in cooperation with the Haus am Kleistpark. With Hydra – Goldrausch 2019, the professional development programme presents the final exhibition of its 29th year.
Like the many heads of the snake-like Hydra, the works of the individual artists grow together to form an organic system, but as independent entities they also demand individual readings. Through the media of performance, photography, illustration, sculpture, sound installation and painting, the up-and-coming artists refer to a multitude of perspectives and positions from current discourses in contemporary art. As an additional fluid and ever-changing figure, a varied supporting programme complements the exhibition and invites visitors to become part of Hydra – Goldrausch 2019.
The Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt is a year-long programme which aims to implement and visualize the outstanding artistic positions of women. This project is an independent professional development programme for female visual artists, which includes a one-year postgraduate professionalisation course, an exhibition and public events.
Welcoming speeches by Barbara Esch Marowski (Head of the municipal galleries Tempelhof-Schöneberg), Sabine Bangert (Chairwoman Goldrausch e.V.), Kira Dell and Kerstin Honeit (Curators of the exhibition)
Artists: Marie-Louise Andersson / Melo Börner / Marlene Denningmann / Eva Dittrich / Eva Funk / Martine Heuser / Ana Hupe / Mareike Jacobi / Astrid Kajsa Nylander / Marion Orfila / Mila Panic / Fiene Scharp / Millie Schwier / Lena Skrabs / Sara Wahl
Laura Dee Milnes 