There are always new initiatives emerging
either from recent graduates, current
students and emerging artists in
Wales. Third Floor Gallery Cardiff is a
great example of a photographer-run
organisation focussing on international
contemporary documentary work.
The National Museum, g39 and
Ffotogallery are all favourites of mine
but I would also recommend visiting Oriel
Davies in Newtown and also the wonderful
Plas Glyn Y Weddw in Llanbedrog, north
Wales. I am also looking forward to
the re-opening of the Glynn Vivian in
Swansea. Finally Artes Mundi is a focus
event showcasing a selection of the
best contemporary international work in
Wales this autumn.
RW: What was the last show you saw that
had an impact on your practice and why?
HS: Both Uncommon Ground at the
National Museum in Cardiff and United
Enemies at the Henry Moore Institute in
Leeds reminded me of the connections
between sculpture, photography and
moving image which had such an influence
on me as an art student, and still do
today.
I also recently saw a mesmerising video
work by the Australian artist Hayden
Fowler at the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Sydney. Titled ‘New World Orde r’,
it featured live heritage chickens in
what appeared to be a constructed
landscape. Their cries or mating calls
were, or were maybe not,
computer-generated and the whole
piece was a brilliantly engineered
balance between the natural and the
constructed.
RW: Tell us about your working practice
and your routines. What worries you?
What excites you?
HS: I spend every day working,
or thinking about making art,
and have done for the last 30 years.
I am extremely worried about
systematic and institutional
indifference, and the active erosion
of art, as a valid subject and practice,
both by government and educational
institutions. I hate the insidious shift
in language that has turned us all into
“creatives” and in doing so negated
the complex and challenging character
of artists, their work and function
within society. I know that I am not the
only one who feels that this critical
condition needs to be addressed, as
demonstrated so vibrantly at last year’s
Art Party Conference in Scarborough.
Making art can keep you out of hospital.
Growing vegetables excites me, and the
possibility that I could be a full-time
artist for at least the next 20 years of
my life.
RW: You’ve recently been selected to
represent Wales at next year’s Venice
Biennale. What have you got planned?
HS: I am working on six new works for
the Wales presentation in Venice next
May. They are all independent works that
inter-relate through sound and image
across the whole site, which in itself is
playing a major part in the formation of
the work.
It is a huge privilege to be selected and
I feel excited at the prospect of
linking aspects of my immediate working
environment in rural Wales with Venice,
through both art historical and
cinematic references.
I am thrilled to be working under the
directorship of Louise Wright, David
Drake and the Ffotogallery team, along
with the curatorial scrutiny of Stuart
Cameron, who gave me my first exhibition
at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff back
in the late 1980s. This is a once-in-alifetime opportunity for me to achieve
my best work with a fantastic support
network, and hopefully make Wales proud.
Helen Sear, Siteline 2, 2011
Helen Sear interviewed by
Ruth Wilbur for Axisweb’s
Artist of the Month,
April 2014, with additions
September 2014
NOTES FROM WALES | AUTUMN 2014 24