Gilane Tawadros: 'Foreword'
In: Mary Evans: Filter. Edited by Gilane Tawadros and Maria Amidu. London: Institute of International Visual Arts, 1997.
As the empire dies and England's decline continues aspace, the inner forms of English culture are thrown into sharper relief [...] that elusive, displaced notion of Englishness apparently so insular and self-contained, cannot be grasped without seeing its intimate and complex connections to the wider imperial world. It is above all the external determinations which have been most vital. 'England alone' is a myth: potent, but false.
Bill Schwartz, The Expansion of England
Although the activities of the Institute of International Visual Arts focus on contemporary art and artists, it is particularly important for these activities to be seen in, and engage with, a broader historical context. In promoting the work of artists and curators with a range of cultural perspectives, the debates of post-colonialism and cultural difference are central concerns for the Institute, and these debates spring from historical legacies enacted within and between the spaces of contemporary society.
The Artist-in-Residence at Leighton House Museum - a collaboration between the Institute and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Libraries and Arts Service - is indended to be the first of a series of artists' commissions and residencies which will explore, over a range of diverse sites, how British history and culture has been shaped and influenced by its international relations, by its contact with people and cultures from around the world. Many of these relations have become a 'hidden' part of our history; often written out of what now constitute the official images of a 'pure' English Heritage. By giving visual artists the opportunity to work with and respond to these sites over an extended period, we aim to create a new dialogue between past and present, exploring what is on the surface and, perhaps, revealing what lies hidden. We aim to develop new perspectives on British history, challenging how sites are experienced and understood now and, in the process, engage a wider audience in the practices and debates of contemporary art.
The idea of the residency and exhibition at Leighton House emerged out of conversations with Julia Findlater, Curator of Leighton House Museum about the history of Leighton House and the reverberations of that history in contemporary British culture. Originally the home of Frederic, Lord Leighton, President of the Royal Academy and foremost exponent of Victorian classical art, the House has been a museum since his death in 1896 and is managed today by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The House was built between 1864 and 1866 and is situated in Holland Park at the centre of the artists' colony that grew up in the second half of the nineteenth century. It is a magnificent example of artistic and aesthetic taste incorporating ebonised woodwork, gilded decoration and dramatic black and white mosaic tiles. The centre-piece of the House is the Arab Hall, created in 1877 to accommodate Leighton's unique collection of Islamic tiles, 'acquired' in North Africa during one of many trips there.
The commission and residency was advertised in Spring 1997 and the artist Mary Evans was selected from a shortlist of excellent and imaginative proposals from a wide range of artists. In May 1997, Mary began her residency at Leighton House and this exhibition and publication repesent the culmination of six months of intensive research and work in the House, during which time Mary has 'excavated' the history of Lord Leighton and his home and engaged in dialogues with the Curator, her colleagues and visitors to Leighton House.