Intoart

Different Spaces

Studio Voltaire is pleased to present the first major exhibition of works produced by this new group of artists with learning disabilities who have been working with Intoart artists to develop self-directed work over the past six months. The work has been made in the group’s own studio space at Studio Voltaire.

Angela Campbell
Ntiense Eno-Anooquaye
Selina Helene
Mawuena Kattah
Doreen McPherson
Philomena Powell
Clifton Wright

Intoart artists have worked with the group through a programme of research, working in galleries, developing ideas through different mediums and debate about the artwork made. Different Spaces features a diversity of individual work that ranges from bold and graphic screenprints influenced by Islamic pattern and plantlife to detailed studies of stones and rocks found on the beach of Ovingdean Undercliff near Brighton. Over the six months, the studio artists have produced individual weblogs of their work on the Intoart website as they develop their own practice and reflect on their learning.

Supported by Arts Council England, Lambeth Community Fund and Awards For All.

  1. ​Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye’s practice integrates the visual, written and spoken word through print, text, image and live performance. Amooquaye creates stage sets and garments to perform her writing. For 1000 Patterns at Texture Museum Kortrijk, Belgium (2017) she developed hand screen printed works on linen and printed silk garments from poems referencing themes from the history of fashion and textile. Her most recent performance ‘The Vocal Project’ at Peer, London (2018), alongside fellow contributors to art writing magazine PaperWork 3, explores the intersections of writing, scenography and performance.

    Selina Helene has been a member of Intoart since 2005. Her work reflects her interest in shape, line and colour.

    Mawuena Kattah’s work draws upon an extensive personal archive of family photographs taken in Ghana spanning a number of decades, plus more recent studio photographs of family taken in London. She brings people and pattern together in complex, vibrant compositions. Her work embodies a strong sense of community, creating environments that invite the subjects of her portraits and others to share in a growing social fabric of people, artworks, ceramics and textiles.

    Doreen McPherson makes distinctive and detailed portraits. McPherson work has been included in a number of group presentations including MADMuseé, Liege (2011), No Soul for Sale, Tate Modern (2010), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2009) and Studio Voltaire, London (2010 and 2007).

    Philomena Powell has been a member of Intoart since 2005. Her work reflects her interest in natural forms.

    Clifton Wright has pursued portraiture for over a decade, working in response to family albums, newspaper and magazine pictures, documentation of exhibitions, characters from science fiction and popular culture. From the beginning (he started making portraits in the Intoart studio in 2007) the faces in his drawing have been woven into and enmeshed with tessellations of abstract shapes. The shadows playing across a face gain edges, become independent and find echoes in negative space. The way that face and space fit, knot and flow together are clearly the focus of the work, as much as the specific forms of any particular face.

    (These biographies were updated in December 2020)

  2. Intoart is an independent artist-led visual arts organisation that develops new partnerships between artists, community organisations and galleries to establish new projects that support the learning, development and professional profile of artwork produced by people with learning disabilities. The groups work directly with artists and designers to collaborate on the production of the books and the curating and display of their artwork.

    intoart.org.uk

  3. Clifton Wright, 2007; Mawuena Kattah, 2007; Ntiense Eno Amooquaye, 2007. Courtesy of the artist and Intoart, London.

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