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Portraits In a Chinese Studio is based on Grace Lau’s research into studio portraits made by 19th-century and early 20th-century Western photographers in China. Lau realised that Chinese subjects were placed in a Victorian studio setting as ‘exotic subjects’ and ‘unusual beings’. Lau’s project highlights this relationship and reverses the roles for 21st-century participants.

Lau’s photographic studio was made of ‘mock’ traditional Chinese furniture, with a decorative backdrop and accessories including a soft-toy panda rug. Participants were asked to pose in a similar formal manner to the Victorian studio portraits. However, in contrast to their historical setting, those having their portraits taken will be encouraged to keep their contemporary accessories, such as mobile phones, shopping bags, and clothing. A free portrait will be emailed to each participant.

Grace Lau comments:
Through this project, I am making a comment on Imperialist visions of the ‘exotic’ Chinese. I want participants to think about how different people have been represented in portraits over time, and today – placing people in this constructed historic setting and taking their portrait is a great way to start that conversation.

Over the course of 53 days, the project engaged 3,402 participants, resulting in 1,377 photographic portraits, with around 240,643 visitors coming from all over the world, even as far as New York!

Read the journeys of the project’s Curatorial Assistants:
Wenjun Xie
Yutong Zhang

Following the project’s run at the Marlands Centre, Southampton in February 2023, a selection of portraits taken were placed on display at John Hansard Gallery during September 2023. The project then toured to the Centre for British Photography in Autumn 2023, and as part of Eastbourne Alive alongside the Turner Prize in February 2024. It finally returned to Hastings in May 2024, where it first began twenty ago, and will culminate in one final exhibition as part of PhotoHastings in October 2024.

View the programme of events and activities delivered alongside the project here.

Participants’ comments:

“Wonderful to have such a memorable moment in time officially recorded in such a great project.”

“Unique experience, a lovely moment to completely stop in the centre of a bustling city. Love the project!”

“Excellent project that resonated with me as a Black American (whose ancestors were also the subject of the colonial gaze). That’s a phrase I learnt from Grace! Thanks for the project.”

Portraits In a Chinese Studio in Southampton was presented in association with Chinese Arts Southampton, Chinese Association of Southampton, UK Shaolin Centre, and the Confucius Institute. Digital copies of all the photographs were donated to Southampton City Archives, with the aspiration of creating a social record of communities in 2023.

Beginning in February 2023 during Black History Month in the Caribbean and USA, Kingston Creative, Jamaica is partnering with UK organisations John Hansard Gallery, Black History Month South, and Southampton Black Archives to celebrate and commemorate the Windrush generation and give voice to the subsequent Windrush scandal.

Windrush Portraits is the first stage of a transatlantic artistic collaboration with communities in both Kingston, Jamaica and Southampton, UK. During 2023, artists Mary Evans (based in UK) and Michael Elliott (based in Jamaica) will present iconic artworks that highlight the legacy of the Windrush generation and migration.

The artists will undertake exchange visits to Southampton and Kingston to meet both Caribbean communities in Southampton and Windrush returnees in Kingston. These visits will result in new artworks, created in collaboration with communities, that will be presented on city centre shop units and bus stops in Southampton, and on the front of John Hansard Gallery during October, Black History Month in the UK.

For this project, Michael Elliott’s and Mary Evans’ artworks will explore the personal, political, social and post-colonial legacy of the Empire Windrush and the Windrush Generation of West Indian migrants (as well as their descendants) who arrived in the UK from 1948–1971. Under the UK government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy from 2009, some members of the Windrush Generation and their families were wrongfully persecuted and deported from the UK and returned to Jamaica. These returnees often lost their homes, livelihoods, and health because of the UK government’s actions, that has become known as the Windrush scandal.

Windrush Portraits will be developed through conversations with Caribbean communities in Kingston, Jamaica and Southampton, UK to celebrate the individuals, highlight the injustices, and commemorate the important contribution of the Windrush Generation to the UK’s recovery in the post-war period.

During 2023, Mary Evans delivered creative workshops with members of the Windrush generation in Southampton and their family and friends. During these sessions, Evans took side-profile photographs of the participants which she turned into silhouettes, recalling the British tradition of silhouette portraits. These silhouettes can now be seen in a new work on the front of John Hansard Gallery. Meanwhile, a new piece by Michael Elliott, The Calling, continues his socio-political series on Windrush and can be found on shop units across Southampton.

Join us and watch as they fester in alleys and spawn a series of short films. The project projects these onto surfaces in the city, car parks are our canvas and every wall a new opportunity to exhibit.

Curated and hosted by Oozing Gloop, in partnership with Videoclub, follow the mobile cinema as it moves around the city. The trail features our favourite drag critters, Lasana Shabazz, Frogb0i, Shrek666, Bonnie Bakeneko and WET MESS.

The trail will cover approximately 2km and will end near John Hansard Gallery. The pace is leisurely and easy.

Oozing Gloop is the world’s premier green, autistic drag queen. Troublesome, camp and revolting, her interdisciplinary practice born out of a life of cabaret creates a queer spectacle exploring Awe: the awful, the awesome, and the autistic.

videoclub is an artists’ moving image and digital culture agency, showing artists’ work across the UK and internationally. They support artists through curated programmes, engaging the public through screenings, exhibitions, residencies, and commissions.

They work in collaboration to develop inventive, stimulating events and opportunities to show artists’ work. From small collectives to large institutions, they exhibit work in cinemas, festivals, museums, galleries, outdoors and online, presenting diverse work by early career to established artists.

Commissioned by John Hansard Gallery as part of Co-Creating Public Space, with support by Arts Council England, Southampton City Council, GO! Southampton, University of Southampton and Southampton Pride. Produced by Artsadmin.

A Midnight Swamp Gala
John Hansard Gallery, 10.30pm – midnight
An elegant evening awaits us after the film trail in the lobby of John Hansard Gallery where we can live, laugh and lounge around. Complementary reading material will be made available to peruse, whilst films of an artistic nature play. Who knows? There may even be a performance or two! This event is free and open to the public, but you must be over 18+. Book your place by emailing: jack@jhg.art

Mela Monument is a series of new outdoor artworks that have been created by artists Permindar Kaur, Ren Wooldridge and Rabia Raja, inspired by the Southampton Mela Festival.

Involving local people and listening to their views about Mela has been central to this project. In the UK, Mela is one of the most popular forms of festival, celebrating and representing the evolving and rightful existence of the diverse British cultures and communities.

Permindar Kaur, Project Co-ordinator Ratna Jan Bibi and Art Asia spoke with over 160 people at Diwali events in Southampton last autumn, asking questions around a sense of belonging, home and what Mela means to them. They collectively discovered that Mela meant a celebration of culture, community, inclusion and identity to the people of Southampton.

Between March and May 2024, the artists have co-led a series of creative, cross-generational workshops and conversation events at Cantell School, the Women’s Integration Group in Southampton, and at family friendly sessions at John Hansard Gallery. Participants contributed their views, ideas and creative works to shape Mela Monument, sharing their experiences of migration, settlement, and the evolving concept of home which are woven into each artwork.

Permindar Kaur’s artistic practice extends over more than three decades, during which she has become one of Britain’s most innovative artists. Known as much for her deft manipulation of materials including glass, metal and fabric as for her evocative exploration of home, childhood, memory and cultural identity, Kaur’s practice defies categorisation. Kaur comments: “This has been a great opportunity to make an artwork for a public space reflecting on South Asian heritage, notions of home and a place of gathering.”

For Kaur, Mela is about gathering, celebration and making oneself at home. This led her to the idea of making a work with beds and washing lines to say, “this is now our home, where we sleep, and even put out our washing.” On the day of the Southampton Mela Festival, the audience will be able to participate in the making of the work. Using Indian wooden blocks, they can design and print patterns of their choice on the clothes, which will then be hung up, added to the sculpture in the Mela Sculpture Park.

Ren Wooldridge is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Clay is a dominant material in her wide-ranging scope of work, drawing on lived experience; from personal narrative to collective subjectivity, with her work intimate yet universal in its relevance. Wooldridge comments: “I am thrilled for the opportunity to engage with the vibrant and diverse community of Southampton in celebrating the Mela festival. My passion lies in promoting accessibility and inclusivity within art, creating work that resonates with and represents the community, particularly for minority and underrepresented groups.”

For the Mela, Wooldridge has made a wooden door left open placed on top of a base of colourful ceramic tiles. Many of these vibrantly coloured tiles have been hand-painted by community groups in Southampton during the co-creation process and by the artist. Wooldridge responded to discussions around ‘home and belonging’, and the work is a celebration of the city’s diverse culture and creativity. It also provokes questions about identities and the migratory journeys shared by many under global social, economic, political, and environmental pressures.

Rabia Raja is a sculptural and photographic artist, specialising in working with industrial materials such as concrete and steel. Her work explores themes of everyday life, Brutalist Architecture, and the built environment. Incorporating found objects with historical and cultural significance, Raja creates sculptures that symbolise the power structures governing the modern world. Raja comments: “I’ve gained invaluable insights into navigating the art world, and facilitating community workshops has ultimately been a rewarding learning experience, forming connections which are important to establish and develop when it comes to public art and the local community.

For the Mela, Raja’s work celebrates the craft of South Asian pattern-making through collective creation and cultural expression. A wooden structure decorated with a fabric collage tapestry will showcase Indian block printed patterns, created during workshops with Southampton community groups. The space will enclose two ‘incomplete’ chairs facing one another, symbolising a conversation.

Visitors to the Southampton Mela Festival can participate in a pattern-making workshop and add their fabric to the surface, transforming these blank chairs into vibrant displays. The installation reflects those themes of home, belonging and identity, drawn from conversations held during the workshops. It embodies the spirit of community and cultural pride, creating a welcoming space at the Mela, and reflecting the colourful array of traditional garments and the profound sense of identity they represent.

Dahlia Jamil, Chief Executive, Art Asia said: “We are delighted to partner with John Hansard Gallery in this exciting project that will build a lasting legacy for Southampton, not only in regard to improving its public space but recognising the thriving diverse communities that live and create those social stories that connect us all.”

Woodrow Kernohan, Director, John Hansard Gallery said: “Mela Monument is the fruition of multiple partnerships between John Hansard Gallery and Art Asia. We have been thrilled to work with the artists Permindar, Ren and Rabia, in partnership with groups and communities in Southampton as part of our Co-Creating Public Space programme. Southampton’s Mela is a highlight in the cultural calendar of Southampton and the region. We are looking forward to launching these new Mela Monument artworks and celebrating with everyone at the Southampton Mela Festival.”

Southampton Mela Festival takes place on Saturday 13 July 2024 at Hoglands Park, with communities invited to work alongside the artists on the day.