Artworks produced in collaboration with School of Education, Literacies Research Cluster and iHuman research are included in a solo exhibition by artist-researcher Dr Louise Atkinson in the School of Design at the University of Leeds. The exhibition, ‘Co-producing critical heritage: A series of artistic explorations of people and place’, showcases a series of Louise’s work, including four artworks created for the ‘Translation and Translanguaging’ project (TLANG), working with Dr Jessica Bradley (Sheffield) and Dr James Simpson (Leeds) and work-in-progress for the Multilingual Streets: Translating and Curating the Linguistic Landscape project. For the latter project, Louise is working with artworks created by the young people to produce experimental pieces using digital collage.
Jessica and Louise will be discussing these and associated projects, including the Visual Representations of Multilingualism exhibition, and the role of the arts in language-focused research as part of an invited seminar organised by the University of Jyväskylä’s Research Collegium for Language in Changing Society (RECLAS), Crossing Borders – Artistic Practices in Performing and Narrating Belonging and The AILA Research Network Creative Inquiry in Applied Linguistics . (Registration via Webropol until 8 November, 2019: https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/9E69C52657C512EB).
More details about Louise’s exhibition can be found below. It is open to all and free of charge to attend.
Co-producing critical heritage: A series of artistic explorations of people and place
Louise Atkinson
17th October – 22nd November 2019
The ‘Co-producing Critical Heritage’ exhibition highlights a range of projects facilitated by Louise Atkinson following her PhD in Fine Art at the University of Leeds in 2016. The projects explore ideas of critical heritage through a combination of personal and socially engaged practice, and in collaboration with other artists, researchers, and participants.
Drawing on the definition of heritage studies as “a social, cultural, economic and political phenomenon” which critically analyses “the situation, construction and role of heritage”, Louise’s practice aims to engage with concepts of class, ethnicity, language, and nationality through visual art, particularly in relation to questions around home and belonging.
Some of the projects displayed consider the ways in which people understand and communicate the spaces around them, from the production of souvenirs which highlight local folklore, to experiences of living in social housing. Others include visualisations of research into Applied Linguistics and Cultural Studies, showcasing the potential for transdisciplinary collaboration in research.
A key factor in the production of these works is a focus on the ways that ideas of place are created and disseminated, giving the opportunity for unheard voices to be included. This focus aims to create space within each project to co-produce images and ideas with others, enabling these stories to be told from a wider perspective.
