Art Exhibition: 'Life and Experience'

Sat 7 February - Sun 22 February

Wolfson College

Janette Parris investigates life in her area of contemporary London, using narrative and humour and employing popular formats such as soap opera, stand-up comedy, musical theatre, pop music, cartoons, comics and animation. Her art has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally for more than 25 years. Examples of two series of art-works are shown here. The seven 'Bite yer Tongue' works from 1997 were shown at Tate Modern in its first major exhibition, ‘Century City’, in 2001. They are small, deceptively simple works of Text Art, like diary pages, hand-drawn narratives of the everyday, expressing in a few words some of her thoughts on subjects such as race, sex or class. Her storytelling is whimsical and particular, but also generalised in the sense that there are analogies in almost everyone’s quotidian experience. In the face of rudeness or misfortune her stoic politeness comically masks a repressed annoyance, with solace later found in ‘comfort food’ such as ice-cream, chocolate, sweets, or biscuits.

Seven large recent works, 'This is not a memoir', shown at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2023, combine upper-case text with a digitally-drawn image of the subject, like her comics. Again the texts apparently tell us about her life-experiences, but this time they are tied to specific places and/or dates: at the cinema; her father’s life as a worker at Ford Dagenham; working night-shifts to fund her MA at Goldsmiths; the expense of ‘white goods’ in the 1980s; the first colour televisions; dancing and getting older; West Ham’s new stadium. Her reminiscences are characteristically clear-eyed, thoughtful and moving.

Viewing the exhibition:
The exhibition will be open to the public until Sunday 22 February.

Opening Times: Saturdays and Sundays, 10.00-17.00

The exhibition is occasionally unavailable, for instance during graduations.

It is advisable to contact the Porters' Lodge in advance of your visit (01223 335900).

Access:
This exhibition is on display in the Combination Room on the first floor of our main building. It has step-free access with a lift and there is an accessible toilet located on the first floor of the building.

Cost: Free