Welcome to Crafted Selves
In 2023 Fife Contemporary launched Crafted Selves at St Andrews Museum; the exhibition subsequently travelled to Kirkcaldy Galleries and finally Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries. Curated by Cat Dunn, the exhibition explores the many ways in which craft and identity intersect in the work of contemporary Scottish artists. This online edition of Crafted Selves is both a stimulating archive of what the exhibition achieved and a resource for further insights into the complex relationship between craft and identity, and the highly personal themes explored. Crafted Selves is curated from the position of Cat Dunn as a curator of colour, who directly understands how identity can impact the work of marginalised groups, both through research and lived experience. Fife Contemporary are grateful to all the artists for their openness, honesty and commitment to this exhibition.
About
This exhibition features thirteen artists living and working in Scotland, featuring many craft and visual artworks, from ceramics to textiles, paintings, and installation elements.
These artists experience and live with Dual Identities. At least part of their identity is ‘othered’ – made to feel different or marginalised from parts of society because of their race, gender, disability or other cultural experience. They express this experience through their work and find a way to reclaim and feel pride in the excluded part of their culture and identity.
The artists involved in this exhibition are Ashanti Harris, Sara Pakdel-Cherry, Eden Dodd, Emelia Kerr Beale, Harvey Dimond, Sekai Machache, Viv Lee, Adil Iqbal, Joy Baek, Li Huang, Tilda Williams-Kelly, Rae-Yen Song and Alberta Whittle.
Dual Identity means navigating geographies imposed on you by others, whether real or imagined. It is others dictating whether you ‘belong’. It exists on the surface in multiple places but can never form deep and stable roots. Nevertheless, it also means having access to a multitude of cultures and the ability to feel comfortable and make meaningful relationships in an array of places across the world. Dual Identity can often be fraught with negative connotations, yet artists have used their lived experiences to create artworks with joy.
The research for this exhibition investigated how each artist dealt with the negative and positive connotations associated with having a Dual Identity and how this is shown through the lens of craft and visual art.
Crafted Selves: The Unfinished Conversation invites you, the audience, to become part of the conversation.
Artists
Select an individual artist block to visit their page.
