Sign of the Times

Sign Of The Times, co-ordinated by the committee members of the Glasgow University Art Appreciation Society on Relevo, showcases 8 emerging-artists’ personal and sensory experiences during the past year of upheaval. Within the exhibition space three further concepts are explored and pulled apart in the art works (predominantly photography): the re-exploration and interaction with external spaces, the oppression within enclosed spaces and an exploratory attempt to construct a shared memory. Ultimately, Sign Of The Times is a collective exhibition with artists and curators responding to environment, time and memory.

 Screenshot of the virtual exhibition space. Source: relevoarts.com.

The natural environment is a balm that can heal many wounds. Cooped up inside many came to realise the rejuvenating impact of nature on the human psyche. Marta Roncalli found “nature taught [her] to pause, to think, to notice and to attune to all [her] senses”. Marta captures nature with film photography, encouraging spontaneity in the very process. Through the form of analogue photography, Marta captures calm, unrestrained natural scenes with a nostalgic and tranquil tone.  

Marta Roncalli, Sand and Wildlife Around Tuscany, 2020. Source: relevoarts.com.

“Nature, together with minimalism, is the guiding principle, the driving force behind my work. They enable me to feel and be free.” – Marta Roncalli.

Contrastingly, The MO’s photography presented in Sign Of The Times reflects a very different response to similar themes. Centering on the inexhaustibility of time within enclosed spaces procuring pain, The MO’s photography is fraught and saturated with tension. In ‘Prey Of Spaces [Constriction]’ The MO clings onto themselves, arms wrapped tightly, constrained by their external environment: the home morphed into a cage.

The MO, Prey of Spaces [Constriction], 2020. Source: relevoarts.com.

The dichotomy of human connection and isolation is explored further in Troy Holt’s series of works ‘The Body Is Here’. Once more, Troy favors the speed and impulsiveness of photography as an artistic, expressive medium: ‘the shot is so quick it bypasses my ability to rationalise the scene I am processing’.

Troy Holt, The Body Is Here (1b), 2020. Source: relevoarts.com.

On one wall of the exhibition space hang eight of Hyesung Im’s sentimental photographs: four photographs from her ‘Nostalgia’ series and four from her ‘How to Disappear Completely’ series. Both series negotiate loss. In ‘Nostalgia’, corners of Im’s Grandma’s home are captured as Im hopes to re-awaken her memory, deteriorating due to Alzheimer’s. Whilst ‘How to Disappear Completely’ is an homage to the overwhelming, unburdened landscapes of Iceland. Following the death of a close friend, Im obsessively clung onto the memories she shared with this friend, terrified they would dissolve in time. The intense solitude Im felt at the time is reflected in the powerful, fierce landscapes if Iceland.

Hyesung Im, How To Disappear Completely Series 3 (Diamond 1), 2020. Source: relevoarts.com.

Hyesung Im, Nostalgia Series 2, 2020. Source: relevoarts.com.

The distorted unraveling of time due to numerous lockdowns forms the premise of Sophie Stewarts’s photographs on display in Sign Of The Times, and reflects one of the exhibition’s main themes: time. Bodies, trapped behind transparent plastic, are isolated and suffocating: feelings many are now displeasingly overly familiar with. The complexity and nuances of such emotions are distilled into two simple, yet effective, images, undoubtedly resonant with many people.

Sophie Stewart, Pause III, 2020. Source: relevoarts.com.

Environment, time and memory, and our perceptions of these, have been overturned, warped and heightened during the past year. The diverse works of the artists included in Sign Of The Times reflects the numerous different reactions and coping mechanisms people have found. With the majority of works being photographs, an emphasis is placed here on power of images as testaments.

Despite the exhibition formally ending on 11th April, the nature of its online format means one can still view the exhibition under the previous exhibitions tab on relevoarts.com/signofthetimes-exhibition. All images sourced from relevoarts.com.

Olivia Wilson

Reviews Editor, MADE IN BED