Grace Schwindt: Mariner, A Painted Ship Upon a Painted OceanUK National Tour 2019 - 2020
Inspired by language and rich visual metaphor Mariner retells an old tale for the 21st Century, taking as its starting point one of the most influential poems in the English language The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834).
Told with a new sense of urgency Mariner has been presented as a national touring exhibition, launching at The Levinsky Gallery. The exhibition brought together artists and scientists to tease out what we might learn from the past whilst exploring the most pressing of issues that the poem seems to speak to in the present, including: marine pollution, climate change, the movement and migration of peoples across the seas, hidden histories and human vulnerability and isolation. Featuring 15 artists Mariner showcased a series of new commissions and artworks that consider the contemporary resonance of the poem, including sculptural works by Grace Schwindt.
Commissioned especially for Mariner, Grace Schwindt presented seven sculptures made out of ceramic and silver bronze. The titles draw on the visual language of colour and atmospheric mood found in Coleridge’s original poem, utilizing the image of the iceberg as a carrier for the body, captured in different stages of abstraction and transition: between dead, alive and undead, human and non-human. Influenced by reports of melting ice-sheets and impending climate change Schwindt describes the sculptures as presenting a dilemma, evoking, on the one hand, the stark violence and brutality of landscape set against the figure, and on the other, a tender space where the landscape might be seen to hold and nurture the body. The combination of materials – the fragility and brittleness of ceramic that might give way at any moment. against the weight and rigidity of the silver bronze in the form of the dying albatross – further compound this tension.
Curated by Dr Sarah Chapman, Angela Cockayne and Professor Philip Hoare, this exhibition has been delivered by The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth and The Box, Plymouth partnership.
National exhibition tour:
16 September – 16 November 2019: The Levinsky Gallery, Plymouth 24 January – 21 March 2020: The Andrew Brownsword Gallery, Bath 2 May – 4 July 2020: John Hansard Gallery, Southampton
Text and Image Credit: University of Plymouth
