The Lightbox is delighted to announce that we will be working with artist Madi Acharya-Baskerville as part of the inaugural 20/20 artist residency.

20/20 was launched in November 2021 by UAL Decolonising Arts Institute as a national commissioning and network project directly investing in the careers of a new generation of ethnically diverse artists. The project will support 20 emerging artists of colour to take up residencies with 20 public art collections across the country, leading to 20 new permanent acquisitions. The 20/20 project was conceived in response to urgent calls for action within arts and culture, to tackle social inequities and racial injustices amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the wake of Black Lives Matter.                                                

About Madi Acharya-Baskerville:

Madi Acharya-Baskerville is an Asian-born diaspora artist, living and working in the UK. The themes explored in her work range from environmental concerns, migration and exile and gender issues. What unites them is the found element, matter that already exists around us, an enduring reflection of the human condition.

Her practice involves the synthesis of unlikely elements which she sources from different locations, the coastline, woodlands and vintage markets. Using objects, textiles, song, conversation and magazine cuttings which resonate with her on some level, she creates works which move fluidly between different media. Some of the materials have had a past life such as wooden panels previously part of furniture or embroidered textiles which have seen better occasions. Through joyous transformative processes these objects and materials are reborn as part of something new.

Madi Acharya-Baskerville has had exhibitions at Seager Gallery in Deptford, London and Exeter Phoenix Gallery, Exeter as part of Exeter Contemporary Open. Her work is part of the permanent collection at The Whitworth, University of Manchester. She has also been part of group exhibitions at Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, National Museum of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya, Museum of Oxford, Oxford, The Lightbox, Woking and Bloc Projects, Sheffield.

During her residency at The Lightbox, she will be focussing on the archaeological finds from Woking Palace and relating these to materials and objects which form part of her own practice. She is interested in creating a dialogue between Woking palace and a palace visited in India during childhood. As part of this process, she will be reaching out to the local culturally diverse communities of Woking for participation in her project.

@madiacharyabaskerville | www.madiacharya-baskerville.org 

Hear more about Madi's practice:

 

About The Decolonising Arts Institute:

The Decolonising Arts Institute at University of the Arts London (UAL) seeks to challenge colonial and imperial legacies and drive social, cultural and institutional change, through creative interdisciplinary collaborations and research-driven projects and partnerships. The Institute pilot phase (2019-21) saw a programme of seminars, roundtables and residencies that has led to the launch of 2 significant and complementary 3-year projects that will run in parallel.

20/20 is the Institute’s first major public-facing creative commissioning programme that engages with artists, public collections and audiences at scale, generously supported by Freelands Foundation and Arts Council England.

Find out more about The Decolonising Arts Institute here.

    

Banner image credit: Madi Acharya-Baskerville, 'I Am All About You', Mixed media sculpture. Photo credit Chris Honeywell, courtesy of the artist.