I’ve said this so many times, to so many people, that I’m starting to question my sanity, but… Into the Wyld is the best exhibition Williamson Art Gallery has hosted for a long, long time. I’m not saying the others were bad, I’m just saying that this is outstanding.
The project’s lead artists, Material Matters (Paddy Rogers, Silvia Battista, John Elcock, and Angelo Madonna) developed the proposals for this show nearly two years ago, and have been working with other local contemporary artists to respond to the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, since late last year.
Then, thanks to a wonderful twist of fate, a multi-room exhibition fell through at the gallery, meaning their one-room exhibition became a three-room exhibition. And rather than being installed, curated and over-worked by existing curators, the artists hung and curated their own work, in the biggest contemporary gallery in the Wirral.
Oh, and if that wasn’t ambitious enough, this exhibition is changing three times through its residency at the Williamson, with a separate exhibition curated by each of the lead artists. Paddy Rogers’ ‘Nature’ ends on the 13th of September, but is quickly replaced by ‘Chivalry’, curated by John Elcock on the 19th. In November, Angelo Madonna curates ‘Spirituality’.
And across it all, Sylvia Battista is delivering a programme of performance, talks and workshops under the title, ‘Weavers’.
It’s all a bit overwhelming, but I’m a fan of that. It’s a chance to step into the working practice of four critically engaged artists, in a narrative that’s universally engaging.
It’s not often medieval history is given a context we’re actually familiar with. It’s usually a generic moor, and the boundaries of North and South offer little true context on where, when, or why anything was actually going on.
The story the exhibition is based on, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval poem, where Gawain, nephew of King Arthur, undertakes a quest “into the wilderness of the Wirral”.
But Gawain is the nephew of King Arthur (universally familiar), and the tale takes place on the Wirral; a wild and dangerous place where savage nature presides over civility (still largely true…).
Across the three exhibitions, contextualised by accompanying live events, audiences are offered a chance to become more and more, and more, familiar with the tale. Through works by the lead artists, but also an invited roster of twenty-seven local artists.
When I walked in to the first iteration (Paddy Rogers’ ‘Nature’) it was like being hit by a tumbling wall. I’d just not remotely expected the scale of the work, or the unity of expression. Into the Wyld was, is, blatantly unified, and the artists engaged in the process have been led to a collective point of realisation, where every single one has grasped the power of not just the story, but of artists re-telling it.
As a listener/reader/observer, whatever I/we/you am/are, the entire experience is like listening to a bed time story, and vehemently believing in the magic.
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Into the Wyld is open at the Williamson until 21st December 2024
Words, Patrick Kirk-Smith