Who are we?
I & Me is an educational curatorial project set up by two recent Goldsmiths College visual arts graduates India Ritchie and Davina Drummond. During their time on their degrees they both found themselves heavily involved in organising art projects and events outside college. This joint enthusiasm has led them to work together after they graduated. More information on individual projects they have been involved with can be found on their CVs.
What is I & Me?
I & Me plans to be a one weekend art project on the theme of self identity, looking at how characterisation, performance, narrative, fantasy, memory and FRACTURED TRUTHS can all be clues of one’s identity. More specifically we want to focus on how self expression can be used to generate communication and exchange between individuals. The project will consist of an exhibition of eight chosen artists dealing with identity politics and a two day long education workshop with school children.
A diverse selection of schools will be asked to participate, we hope to have an estimate of five students from roughly five different schools, and all aged between twelve and fourteen. There will be four artists working with the students, all of whom work with issues of identity, including India and Davina.
The Workshop
The programme for the workshop will focus on three main aims: developing visual reading skills, learning to create visual signs and improving communication skills. These three goals will be demonstrated through exploring self-identity.
Visual reading will be introduced via learning how to read self-portraits and contemporary acts of self-expression. For this part of the project the students will interact with the art works exhibited through being asked to analyse and comment on them.
Creating visual signs will be explored through the task of creating a self-expressive artwork. The teenagers will be encouraged to think about loaded issues of; race, gender and class as well as their personal histories, insecurities, talents, tastes, self-image and the way they look. We will ask them to consider representing themselves through objects and words as well as mark making.
Finally we hope by asking the students to talk to each other about what their portraits mean to them communication skills will be developed. We will in addition ask them to be detectives and work out what each others artworks mean. We hope to see bouncing of identities.
The workshop will conclude with a show of the work the students produced amongst the exhibited art works. Relatives and friends of the students will be invited to come and see the work and share tea and cake and conversations with us.
The students will be given passports at the beginning of the workshop, which they will be asked to treat as a journal/ scrapbook and can be seen as a personal classification of identity rather than national identity. They will also participate in making personal flags, which will afterwards be installed.
We feel at this political climate in London where religions are being separated by fears of terrism and children by a selection process in schools it is crucial for young people to learn about each other’s diverse identities and most importantly enjoy each others differences. We hope this project will enable at least the participants involved to do so. We feel artists have to responsibility to socially engage. We would like to see the students involved as activists, detectivists, makers of signists, readerists, self expressionists, conversationists, communicationists, exchangists, gatheringists, cake and tea consumerists and art makerists….
When is I & Me happening?
We plan to schedule I & Me for sometime early to mid April to collide with the Spring Break.
Where is I & Me taking place?
At present we do not have a location but are looking for an intimate gallery space in London with a window display space. It relies heavily on funding as to which space we can afford to rent out.
How can I & Me happen?
In order for I & me to take place Davina and India need to secure funding from an arts funding agency. At present we are asking for funding from Big Boost, an organisation, which sponsors people under 25 in art community projects.
