Our exhibition opens tomorrow. Over the last few days I have been trying to come to a decision about what to show. Three weeks really isn’t enough time to make and show work, especially when you’re in an environment where arrangements keep changing and new experiences bombard you at every turn. The Himalaya Bookstore has 4 small gallery spaces. Nina has chosen the 2 adjoing spaces and I will have the two white cube galleries, one with a window to the street and one on the top floor.
To formally present work in this way after 3 week feels wrong – however the process of exhibiting forces you to make decisions. Decisions which may have taken months to reach – or may never have been made at all. For me this pressure has resulted in me exhibiting in a medium I am very uneasy about.
For Objects for a Studio (my ongoing project where I work in other artists’ studios) I have no qualms about showing photographs. The photograph itself is integral to the framework of the project: one day, one studio, one photograph. However Objects for a Studio has only formed a tiny fraction of my residency in Chongqing, I have therefore decided to show additional work. The work I have chosen is also photographs; a decision I have struggled greatly with. This is not because of any prejudice against the medium, but rather that it doesn’t quite feel like my work. Deciding to show images has forced me to see them as work. Whether this decision was the right one remains to be seen, but it is important to make mistakes sometimes.
Jessica Longmore
Sunday 5th December
