Exhibition in Glasgow
Six Foot Gallery, Starter Pack Exhibition
It’s always great to have the opportunity to exhibit work, so when there was the Six Foot gallery open call, I was delighted when my piece The Mother’s Sitting Room was selected.
The print uses gold foiling and flocking to present a picture from the Grampian Hospital’s Archive in a new light.
Images that I was interested in from the Grampian Archive while working on this project commissioned by Grampian Hospitals Art Trust.
This work responds to an overlooked image from the NHS Grampian Archives with the same name, The Mother’s Sitting Room. Through flocking and a symbolic border of limpets and carnations, it highlights the quiet support of an armchair and questions how everyday care and domestic spaces are represented and preserved within curated collections.
The border was developed with reference to the 1935 annual report cover. Looking through the archives, it was striking to see how, over time, these covers gradually lost their detail and ornateness. They shifted from richly considered designs to plain, functional documents, stripped back to just a title and year. This change reflects a broader societal move towards minimalism, where ornate detail is seen as unessential, and the presence of artisan makers has diminished.
The carnations in the border are a symbolic acknowledgment of motherhood, as they are the traditional flower of Mother’s Day.
EXHIBITION IMAGES: Noa Ferder
Six Foot Gallery Exhibition Interview: https://sixfootgallery.co.uk/the-six-foot-gallery-interview-starter-pack-carla-smith/
Six Foot Gallery, About the exhibition: https://sixfootgallery.co.uk/starter-pack/
More about the Grampian Hospitals Art Trust Commission - Here!