"Empty Columns are a Place to Dream" as part of Kolaj LIVE Knoxville.
Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee,
U.S.A
November 1-7, 2021
I am absolutely thrilled to hear that the "Empty Columns are a Place to Dream" project, which took place as part of the amazing Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival has won the County Award at the Heritage Week Heritage Council's awards yesterday.
Co-ordinated by Caroline Conway, and curated by Ric Kasini Kadour, It was a real pleasure to take part in this project and a big congratulations to everyone involved.
I'm also blown away by the incredible news that the exhibition will travel to the Knoxville Museum of Art where it will be part of Kolaj LIVE Knoxville, from November 1-7, 2021.
This project featured local and international collage artists and their interpretations of the empty column in Emmet Square which was formerly the site of a statue to the Duke of Cumberland. Infamous for his brutal oppression of a Scottish uprising. The statue itself has long since been felled, leaving an empty void.
The artists in engaging with this curious absence sparked a timely and creative debate about the role of monuments, the values we uphold, the things we choose to forget, and how this is decided.
To find out more about the tremendous Kolaj Live festival in Knoxville visit:
https://www.kolajinstitute.org/kolaj-live-knoxville.html
To visit the "Empty Columns Project Archives" and view the work you can go to: https://emptycolumns.weebly.com/