Hand In Glove PLATFORM - Josephine Sowden

As a Lotus Flower is Born in Water

Motorcade/FlashParade, Bristol

Opening Friday 8 March 2013, 6pm til late

Exhibition continues: Sat 9 & Sun 10 March 2013, 12 – 5pm **amended dates**

Josephine Sowden uses lens-based media to explore the human condition in relation to modern day consciousness. Commissioned by Hand in Glove, Sowden’s new work As a Lotus Flower is Born in Water is an immersive two-channel video installation.

Inherently performative, the work features the artist amidst the natural landscape, externalising notions of ‘nature’, ‘self’ and ‘ego’. The oppositional personas that Sowden assumes reduce experience to a series of words, distorted memories of the past and predictions of an uncertain future. These confrontational actions exaggerate and bring in to sharp focus a modern day obsession with inner streams of thought; ultimately seeking to question a separation from nature and more primal instincts and desires.

A piece of critical writing by artist Trevor H Smith, recipient of Hand in Glove’s PLATFORM Professional Development, will accompany the exhibition.

Sowden graduated from BA Photographic Art at University of Wales, Newport in 2012 and has since been selected for the Catlin Guide, Videoholica International Video Art Festival in Bulgaria and the 2012 Aesthetica Art Prize. Her degree show piece Lilies of the Field was selected by Hand in Glove for PLATFORM 2012; a group exhibition showcasing work by promising arts graduates from Bristol, Bath and Newport. Sowden was then awarded the PLATFORM Commission, to create new work with the support of Hand in Glove for her first solo exhibition.

 Lilies of the Field will be screened on the opening night only.

The PLATFORM Commission is part of a twelve month series of projects funded by Arts Council England. University of Wales, Newport are also supporting As a Lotus Flower is Born in Water. With thanks to Motorcade/FlashParade, Louisa Fairclough and Maia Conran.