September 30, 2004

ARTIST RESIDENCY
David Chirwa

David Chirwa - Phoenix Gallery David Chirwa - Phoenix Gallery

Braziers International Workshops selected Zambian artist David Chirwa to join their three-week workshop in August, which takes place at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire. He was further selected to take part in the extended residency project, which is funded by Arts Council England and takes place at several venues in the South East area. David was funded to work for a period of four weeks at Phoenix. This was envisaged as a research and development project with emphasis on networking and making professional contacts. David’s working practice focuses on sculpture and installation. For his residency in Brighton he became interested in the contrasting housing arrangements between the UK and Zambia, and public facades and private spaces. For the Open Studio event at the end of the residency he constructed a vast shantytown from scrap wood and collaged magazines. www.braziersworkshop.org www.rockstonart.org

April - July 2004

ARTIST RESIDENCY
Maha Maamoun

Maha Maamoun - 'Retake' - Fabrica Gallery

Phoenix Arts hosted the Brighton Fellowship in partnership with Visiting Arts, Brighton University and Fabrica Gallery. This three-month residency gave Cairo photographer, Maha Maamoun the space and time to network, research and develop work in a new context. This was Maha’s first visit to the UK and gave her the valuable opportunity to interact with local artists and make important professional contacts in the UK.

As part of the project Maha was commissioned to produce a new piece of work as part of the exhibition programme at Fabrica Gallery in September 2004.

Her residency in Brighton brought her to a city, in many ways, far removed from Cairo or the concerns of her past work. For Maha the question of how she connected to this new place triggered how she approached her work for the exhibition ‘Re-take’. As a visitor, meeting members of the Arab and Muslim immigrant communities in Brighton, she found herself drawn to the subject of their political representation within the media.

Rather than try to deconstruct sustained cultural stereotypes, and, ever growing appetite for the exotic, she has chosen to explore the ways in which we produce and consume images of cultural difference.

“Re-take, my work for Fabrica, attempts to expose the dynamics of producing and viewing this icon of difference and object of curiosity, suspicion and fear.” For Re-take Maha produced a video piece displaying a Middle Eastern man praying against a white backdrop presented on a two sided screen so the viewer can view him from all sides.

This was the first time Maha had worked with video. She was able to utilise the expertise of Fabrica project staff to realise the artwork.

www.fabrica.org.uk