SUNUP Festival, UPCO, Otley, Leeds, 11 June - 9 July 2023. Alan Dunn, Frankie Mazzotta & Kristina Nenova.
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| These are split t-shirts in the way that bands make split singles. On one side, a quickly drawn image of Alan’s black Labrador dog, Lulu (similar to the four-second drawings from 2011), made as she turns 9 and rolls over into the ultimate trust position, very much inspired by Melanie Challenger’s theories around giving rights to animals, plants and other natural elements. And what would happen if we merged two highly adaptive, resilient and mystical plants? The other hybrid drawing is inspired by Frankie and Kris’ work with nettles and seaweed as overlooked or undervalued plants. Nettles are incredibly adaptable and flexible, able to be used in tea and in the making and dyeing of fabric. Seaweed is similarly used for many things from medicine to paper and both plants, symbols of otherness and strength in nature, can also be used within sustainable photography. Frankie (@mazzvisualart) and Kristina (@Nenova.art) are current Fine Art students at Leeds Beckett University. Their work explores the natural resources that are all around us such as plants, soil and water in relation to sustainable art making, mythology and folklore. They are co-founders of the Hold It Up Collective (@holditupcollective) with Florian Hynam that focusses on Queer social history and protest banners and that is currently developing public workshops and events surrounding the legacy of Section 28. |
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Huge thanks to Lucy Bergman, Casey Orr and all at UPCO. |
