Cells Residency - Offenders
       
     
Tongue
       
     
Fiona Campbell;Tongue; Recycled and found materials; '19. Photo by Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
Fiona Campbell, Tongue, Recycled and found materials, '19. Photo by Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
Fiona Campbell Tongue Recycled and found materials '19. Photo Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
Fiona Campbell Tongue detail. Photo by Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
Tongue detail-05251.JPG
       
     
Tongue (detail). Photo by Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
Fiona Campbell Tongue (detail) Recycled and found materials '19. Photo by Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
House on Fire
       
     
Rickety ladders, detail, by Fiona Campbell.JPG
       
     
Rickety Ladders (House of Fire).JPG
       
     
Fiona_Campbell_Trowbridge_Cells_Exhibition--14.jpg
       
     
Fiona Campbell Cells Residency:Exhibition. Photo by Tchad Findlay.jpg
       
     
IMG_8986.jpg
       
     
Fiona_Campbell_Trowbridge_Cells_Exhibition--6.jpg
       
     
Fiona_Campbell_Trobridge_Prison_Exhabition-04840.jpg
       
     
Spiderweb Drawings
       
     
Brick wall imprint, handmade paper & oil.jpeg
       
     
Exhabition--6.JPG
       
     
Fiona_Campbell_Spiderweb drawing_Cells_Exhibition--13.jpg
       
     
IMG_8854.jpg
       
     
Wall Rubbing
       
     
Fiona_Campbell_Trobridge_Prison_Exhabition-04949.jpg
       
     
Cellular Forms
       
     
Plate
       
     
Tongue
       
     
 Fiona working on her Tongue piece   Photo by Tchad Findlay
       
     
Bahuli Entrails
       
     
Katryn & Fiona with Bahuli Entrails installation.jpg
       
     
Cells Residency - Offenders
       
     
Cells Residency - Offenders

Tongue

Recycled and found materials: Recycled & found materials: old clothes died with avocado pits, foam, sponge, copper wire, steel, wax, twine, blankets, duvets, pillows, cushion, towels, wool, leather, other fabric, plastic, rubber, thread

158cms (h) x 330cms (l) x 135cms (w)

2019

Photo by Tchad Findlay

Fiona’s solo exhibition Offenders in the Victorian Cells, Town Hall Arts, Trowbridge in May 2019 was the culmination of an art residency in April. Her work responded to the site while confronting environmental horrors we are facing - factory-farming, plastic oceans, animal extinctions. It posed a question ‘are we all offenders given the state of our world?’.

Fiona used the residency to test out new ideas and take risks. The work was a precursor to an ACE-funded arts project B-Wing she co-curated the same year in Shepton Mallet Prison.

The ultimate symbol of autonomy, communication, freedom of speech. An uncomfortable association with sensuality and gratification. A vehicle for abuse and defiance. It takes a certain amount of courage to take this organ - this grotesque appendage that expresses so much about the dichotomies of our existence – and present it on such a monumental scale. But Fiona Campbell refuses to shy away from discomfort. Her response to the cells at Trowbridge Town Hall feels necessarily rebellious and subversive, placing the viewer in the positions of both the offender and the offended, and mercilessly forcing us to accept the power of the decisions we make.’ Katie Ackrill, Visual Arts Coordinator, Pound Arts, Corsham (previously of Town Hall Arts)

© Copyright Fiona Campbell. All rights reserved, 2021




Tongue
       
     
Tongue

2019

Recycled and found materials: fabric, old clothes died with avocado pits, foam, sponge, copper wire, steel, wax, twine, blankets, duvets, pillows, cushion, towels, wool, leather, plastic, rubber, thread

158cms (h) x 330cms (l) x 135cms (w)

Photos by Tchad Findlay

Flesh, organ, waste, body, violence: the huge sculptural tongue, fragile and exposed, activates its space. Revealing the labour and handmade nature of it, Tongue is like a big wounded body, a vulnerable softness juxtaposed against the hardness of its prop, repulsive but seductive. The labour-intensive process of Fiona’s work - weaving, wrapping, sewing - is a form of suturing, a cathartic healing, an attempt to repair in response to world destruction. Tongue confronts uncomfortable topics - factory-farming, our plastic oceans, animal suffering, extinctions, confinement versus freedom.



Fiona Campbell;Tongue; Recycled and found materials; '19. Photo by Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
Fiona Campbell, Tongue, Recycled and found materials, '19. Photo by Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
Fiona Campbell Tongue Recycled and found materials '19. Photo Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
Fiona Campbell Tongue detail. Photo by Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
Tongue detail-05251.JPG
       
     
Tongue (detail). Photo by Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
Fiona Campbell Tongue (detail) Recycled and found materials '19. Photo by Tchad Findlay.JPG
       
     
House on Fire
       
     
House on Fire

Rickety ladders ranging in length from 3 - 4 metres were precariously balanced; wrapped soft sculptural entrails made from recycled materials were woven through them, and dangled from cell bars.


Rickety ladders, detail, by Fiona Campbell.JPG
       
     
Rickety Ladders (House of Fire).JPG
       
     
Fiona_Campbell_Trowbridge_Cells_Exhibition--14.jpg
       
     
Fiona Campbell Cells Residency:Exhibition. Photo by Tchad Findlay.jpg
       
     
IMG_8986.jpg
       
     
Fiona_Campbell_Trowbridge_Cells_Exhibition--6.jpg
       
     
Fiona_Campbell_Trobridge_Prison_Exhabition-04840.jpg
       
     
Spiderweb Drawings
       
     
Spiderweb Drawings

Old webs, handmade khadi paper, linseed oil

Photos by Tchad Findlay

Fiona made a series of Spiderweb Drawings - ancient neglected spiders’ webs captured from dusty corners of the Victorian cells. The works became interventions in corridors and small spaces.

Brick wall imprint, handmade paper & oil.jpeg
       
     
Exhabition--6.JPG
       
     
Fiona_Campbell_Spiderweb drawing_Cells_Exhibition--13.jpg
       
     
IMG_8854.jpg
       
     
Wall Rubbing
       
     
Wall Rubbing

Graphite, paper

Photos by Tchad Findlay

To become acquainted with the space Fiona created a large graphite rubbing of a decaying section of old brick wall, and some imprints on fine handmade paper, which she oiled, transforming them into skin-like parchment.

Fiona_Campbell_Trobridge_Prison_Exhabition-04949.jpg
       
     
Cellular Forms
       
     
Cellular Forms

Copper wire, twine, handmade khadi paper, wax

Photo by Tchad Findlay

In the toilet, large stone spheres incongruously left on the floor inspired an installation of interconnected cellular/planetary forms, like a constellation.


Plate
       
     
Plate

Found card plate, fabric, wax

Photo by Tchad Findlay

Tongue
       
     
Tongue

Charcoal, pastels, ink, paper

 Fiona working on her Tongue piece   Photo by Tchad Findlay
       
     

Fiona working on her Tongue piece

Photo by Tchad Findlay

Bahuli Entrails
       
     
Bahuli Entrails

Fiona reached out to local community groups to engage through debate and collaborative making. Great conversations evolved with visitors, which expanded to discussions about human use and abuse of materials and wider issues about the state of our world. Towards the end, she engaged the community in make a growing artwork for the exterior fencing outside Town Hall Arts. As a finale, she collaborated with artist Katryn Saqui (also exhibiting at Town Hall Arts), to create a colourful Street Sculpture ‘Bahuli Entrails’. It was a wonderful way for members of the public to engage with art while having a bit of fun. All sorts of people dropped by to contribute to the work as a social activity, it attracted more people to enter inside the formal town hall to see the exhibitions, (several who don’t normally go to art exhibitions).

Katryn & Fiona with Bahuli Entrails installation.jpg