#Tunstall30 exhibition, by Ali Harwood. 14th July – 28th October 2018
During the Liverpool Biennial 2018, look out on Tunstall Street in Wavertree for art work to adorn its surroundings. Here, wonder may soon be welcomed independently.
Artist Ali Harwood has been making a point of spending time with the thirty houses on Tunstall Street since 2014. He has made art about his conversations with these buildings. Some of this art will be displayed again where it was conceived. You may witness posters, haikus, paintings, collages or something else around the boarded up blue walls.
Ali says, ‘This street helps me to contemplate on the passing of time and the importance of making the most of it. Whilst I’m making my art here, I aim to make respect this place. When I’ve been making my art here over the years, I notice how many different people pass through it, most in a hurry to get somewhere else. When creating #Tunstall30, I hope to encourage others to take notice of the potential for seeing the good in their surroundings.
This is from a a blog Ali wrote back in 2014:
‘The boarded up terraced houses on Tunstall Street have interested me for a while. They still do. I often pass them. On Saturday June 12th, I decided I would write a haiku for each of these 30 former homes, beginning at sunrise – 5am – the following day (Sunday) and starting on the left, working my way towards Smithdown Road until I had finished. I would take a photograph of each one and post the photo together with the poem on Twitter with the hashtag #Tunstall30. This I did.
I enjoyed spending time with each of the houses in turn, and experiencing the changing light, weather, movement and life as time progressed.
By the following Sunday (20/7/14), I had decided to extend the project. I arranged each of the photos in portrait form, together with their particular haiku. Wording was black on a yellow background, to both stand out and fit in with some of the signage already present at the site. I printed them out around A5 size, laminated them and packed Blu-Tack for the next stage.
At 5.00am, exactly a week after I began the process, and now before sunrise, I began putting up these artefacts on the side wall of the end house (#67) closest to Smithdown Road in order.
It took around 15 minutes.
Over the next few days, I observed my response to these homes fade to memory, either being blown off, taken down, taken or cleared up. This was to be expected.
The terrace continues to endure as the land they face begins to churn.
There may yet be a future for the #Tunstall30, but that’s where we’re up to for now.’
Biography
Ali Harwood is an artist, poet, writer and teacher. He searches for the places where myths become real.
Ali’s art appears from the walls of Jamaica Street to the screens of the Queen Elizabeth Hall; his poetry travels from the dance of kathak and its illuminating power to hosting the monthly Liver Bards event; he writes of dragons and stonecutters for all who are young at heart; and he teaches in home and schools by listening for where to start. Baltic Creative Shed: Re-View Textile collective – Interwoven – ‘when local becomes global’ weekends until 5th august