In the centre of the main room at Bridewell Studios & Gallery, is a table, set for two, with plates reading “Skyes-Picot 1916”. It offers little by way of introduction, and even less of an invitation. No chairs. No spare crockery. Just two places, set for Sir Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot, who in 1916 drew up boundaries for the division of the Ottoman Empire without regard for the citizens of any of the new countries they were dividing.
Over the decade that followed, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and Palestine were formed as states in their own right, and today, the western world looks on, bewildered as conflict and political instability flows through these young states.
The exhibition surrounding the table, for the most part, reflects on what’s happening in Palestine today, with a massively diverse mix of established, long-standing artists with recent graduates and emerging talent, and, more importantly, makes use of every inch the Bridewell has to offer.
The work is eclectic, with a mix of direct takes on conflict, and future hopes for peace, to statements on motherhood, nature and ritual, that remind us that life continues through everything regardless.
Until 13th March, Drudenhaus Collective are actively fundraising for MAP (Medical Aid for Palestine) with a series of poetry and performance events, music and a closing auction. This is direct action in the hands of artists and it’s a combination of truth and beauty, well worth seeing before it’s over.
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Drudenhaus Collective are at Bridewell Studios & Gallery until 13th March
Words, Patrick Kirk-Smith