The new ideas Maria will be developing while at the gallery have emerged out of her iniva Future Collect commission, 26,778,780 minutes, which was exhibited at Towner Eastbourne in 2024 and acquired by the gallery for their permanent collection. Maria will be setting up a temporary papermaking space in the Aspex studio to make new works in progress – testing out various methods of inserting her writing into her handmade paper and drying the paper directly on the studio walls. This residency is part of a research project she has titled A Paper Maker’s Field Trip and was funded with an Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice Grant.
As part of Maria's residency, she will be co-hosting 7 Days, 7 Stories, a series of Family Saturdays sessions exploring language and art. You can find out more details here
About the artist
Maria Amidu’s artistic concerns are influenced by the complexities of the relational – between people and between people and place. Through writing as artistic practice she tries to substantiate what might be going on in collective situations, paying specific attention to what is hidden, obscured or unspoken. She privileges fault lines and weak spots as essential components in her artworks –fragility, fracture, instability, dissolve, impermanence, residue, mess, breaks, risk. Currently she is working with paper making, laser etching, indigo dyeing, visual and audio recordings, and what she describes as ‘the soft performative role’ audiences play in the activation of her work.
Find out more by heading to Maria's website