Bambooele 2

This idea of long term appreciation and value of the earth's wildlife is quite obviously alien, not only to the procurers and purveyors of ivory, but to much of particular eastern cultures. Ironically, the medium of newspaper, which was responsible for disseminating the plight of the elephants, in a news article which stimulated my desire to make work on the plight of the elephants in the 1980's, is still going on today. A newspaper which is not performing the function for which it was designed, is peculiarly bereft and graceless. I have upcycled different papers which represent some of the detritus of our culture. The paper in conjunction with the piercing bamboos are representative of how eastern cultures are slaughtering elephants solely for the possession of its tusks. To satisfy a supply created to meet the demand of a particular rarefied ostentatious and perverted refinement of taste. The work was shown at the Gestures of Resistance group exhibition, which also extended outside the gallery space with an artists procession on 22nd April. Social resistance to austerity in Greece included diverse forms of solidarity in that sociopolitical crises always provide moments of opportunity to (re-)think and(re-)action. In the Procession artists parade their work on plinths, banners and blazoned on sandwich boards continuing the artistic conversations from within the gallery and taking them to the street as they proceed along the route from the Romansto Cultural Centre to the Polytechneion the site of the 1973 political uprising. The procession includes works by the artists, Rosie Gunn, Chris Coekin, Andrea Gregson, Anthony Heywood, Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps, Bob Matthews, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Kathleen Rogers and Emmanuelle Waeckerle