Grenfell Tower Inquiry hears tributes to artist Khadija Saye

Grenfell inquiry hears tributes to Khadija Saye The family of the artist, who was exhibiting in the Diaspora Pavilion at the Venice Biennale at the time of her death in the Grenfell Tower fire, has paid tribute to her at the beginning of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

In a statement read by his solicitor, Saye’s father Mohammadou Saye, said: “She was very gentle, very kind and friendly. Her burning passion was photography, encouraged by her mother, Mary Mendy, who also lost her life in the same fire. Khadija said to me one day: ‘Daddy, I’m in love with images’. It was this passion that Khadija pursued to the end because it gave her great satisfaction and brought her some joy and happiness.”

A BBC documentary on Saye’s work was also shown, featuring footage of the artist discussing her exhibition at Venice Biennale last summer and her plans to take her mother to see the show later that year.

In the 12 months since her death, Saye’s work has been exhibited at various galleries, including Tate Britain and Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge. A number of commentators have said that the manner of her death should not overshadow her achievements as an artist.

Jennifer Higgie, editorial director at Frieze magazine, told HuffPost UK: “Grenfell shouldn’t dominate how we see her work – she had a whole life before that terrible night so it’s important that life is honoured. There’s a richness and joy to her work and it’s her exploration of her Gambian roots. Her work is really interesting in how it explores the intersection of her ancestry from Gambia and her own body and living in London. That’s where the potential lay.”

Seventy-one people were killed in the blaze and its immediate aftermath and a 72nd victim died in January. The inquiry, which could run until 2020, will include two phases. The first will run until the end of October and will include evidence from experts and firefighters and testimony from survivors and local residents. A second phase, due to begin in November, will examine the refurbishment and decision-making that led to the fire.

Edinburgh Art Festival announce artists for 2018 Commissions Programme Shilpa Gupta, Ross Birrell and David Harding, Ruth Ewan and Adam Lewis Jacob will contribute to programme that presents work in public spaces rather than formal gallery settings. In addition, four female artists’ work will be exhibited as part of Platform: 2018, the fourth iteration of the festival’s showcase of new work by early-career artists based in Scotland.

At the ECA Engine House, Indian artist Shilpa Gupta will present For, in your tongue I cannot hide: 100 Jailed Poets, a multi-channel sound installation that brings together the writing of 100 poets from around the world. In addition, Glasgow-based artist Ruth Ewan’s Sympathetic Magick is a collaboration with Marxist magician Ian Saville.

Ross Birrell and David Harding’s Triptych is a new three-channel film work and installation showing in the 16th century church, Trinity Apse. Elsewhere, at the Institut Français d’Écosse, Adam Lewis Jacob will be exhibiting No Easy Answers, an experimental moving-image installation inspired by J G Ballard’s Kingdom Come.

Sorcha Carey, director of Edinburgh Art Festival, said: “This year’s programme brings together five artists, each with highly distinctive practices, but united by a common interest in some of the urgent social questions of our day. Our 2018 edition of Platform continues to support artists at the beginning of their careers, with four female artists from across Scotland selected to take part.”

Alison Wilding and Adam Kershaw create memorial to British victims of overseas terrorism Located at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, the commission features a dark concrete ellipse that has been hand-trowelled to give the effect of ripples on a pond. Titled Still Water, it brings together three elements – water, land and air. Wilding, alongside fellow sculptor and ex-assistant Adam Kershaw, was selected to make the work following a public consultation and assessment by a panel chaired by Baroness Lynda Chalker.

Explaining the context of the work, Wilding said: “Like most people I have no personal or direct connection to any act of terrorism either here or abroad but I felt that a sensitive memorial should be a ‘place’ and not an object spewing out information. I therefore approached it as a sculpture that would hopefully sidestep politics. Sited at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire it would necessitate a journey for most and this seems appropriate in that it would become a destination, and anything experienced after a specific journey inevitably becomes imprinted on the memory.”

Hockney painting sells for £21.1m, breaking auction record for the artist A private Asian collector has purchased Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, a large-scale oil painting dating from 1990, for $28.5m (£21.1m) at an auction at Sotheby’s New York. The work depicts in Hockney’s typical bright and bold colours the route the Bradford-born artist used to take from his house in the Hollywood Hills to his studio on Santa Monica Boulevard. The sales figure is more than double the previous auction record for the artist, which was set in 2016 after the work Woldgate Woods sold for £9.4m.

Dutch artists reveal penis sculpture in protest against Leeuwarden project The alternative artwork was revealed after the Dutch city of Leeuwarden commissioned 11 fountains by artists including Cornelia Parker and Lucy Orta to celebrate being made European Capital of Culture 2018. None of the artists are local to the city, which has caused an uproar amongst its inhabitants.

In response, a group of local artists raised funds via a crowdfunding campaign to create their own fountain. The 25ft tall fountain includes a working toilet that, when flushed, results in water squirting out of 220 wooden penises. It is the brainchild of Henk de Boer, who explained that his inspiration came from the Dutch expression Jan Lul, which is used when describing someone who is excluded. It roughly translates to ‘John Willy’.

Somewhat ironically, capital of culture organisers contributed to the crowdfunding campaign, donating €10,000 (£8,740) to the project. In addition, de Boer’s sculpture has also been added to the official 11 Fountains programme.

Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine folds The glossy periodical founded by Andy Warhol in 1969 has folded following a series of legal disputes with former employees and its former landlord. This includes recently being sued for $600,000 by former editorial director Fabien Baron, who alleges he wasn’t paid for his work. A senior employee told The New York Post that Interview has now filed for a Chapter 7 liquidation.

Amongst the various celebrities to have graced the magazine’s iconic cover are David Bowie, Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, Cher, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. More recently, it had featured Kim Kardashian posing as Jackie Kennedy, and a tattooed Justin Bieber.

LOVE artist Robert Indiana dies aged 89 The American artist, who became famous for his pop art LOVE series, died on Saturday at his home in Vinalhaven, Maine.

Images:
1. Khadija Saye, Peitaw, 2017. From the series: ‘Dwelling: in this space we breathe’. Photograph, wet plate collodion tintype on metal. 250 x 200 mm. On loan from Vinyl Factory. Image courtesy of the Estate of Khadija Saye
2. Shilpa Gupta, For, in your tongue I cannot hide: 100 Jailed Poets, 2018
3. Alison Wilding and Adam Kershaw, Still Water, 2018. Image courtesy of Angus Mill

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