Artist: Roy Willingham & Mike Sims, UK

Work: This Westward

What do we lose when we set off into new territory? Foreknowledge; familiar signs, symbols, strategies. Our familiar self. And the further we go, the less we recognise. Is it also true that we understand less as we creep forwards? To reimagine Magellan’s voyage in an artwork is a chance to explore how anyone navigates the world, and how we shape the world we find. What being lost feels like (as we hug close to what we know), how striking out works as a system of enquiry, and how if at all we fill in the blanks – fantastically, in an arbitrary way, or fastidiously, trying to pin down the details of what we see.

On a roughly formed globe of paper sea charts the words will try to find a way through the pages discovering new things along the way but also passing by things unknown. Disorientation will be resolved by finally reaching the starting point once more.

The book contains paper, collage, paint and calligraphy. This is a unique bookwork. The closed dimensions are approximately 15cm high x 10cm wide x 5cm thick – when fully opened it is about 15cm high and 20cm diameter.

The completed work has been purchased by the Bodleian Library, Oxford for its permanent collection.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

We are a poet and an artist who like to work together and see what magic happens when ideas are shared. Linked by a common ethos and an attention to detail we benefit from each other’s talents. While our projects tend to be slow moving as we both like to allow time for thought processes to develop we are not averse to a bit of spontaneity and improvisation. The books we have made together range from elaborately constructed unique pieces to commercially printed volumes.

CONTACTS

Email: rw@22qa.net

Website: www.porcovolente.com www.blownrose.uk

Facebook: @edizioniporcovolente @blownrose

Here is a selection of images of works in the exhibition. Scroll down this page for comprehensive individual Artist submissions, including descriptions of their work, more images, artists’ statements and contact details.