What processes did you use during this project?
Most of the women would know how I work. I tend to use text and the text is interwoven with wallpaper flowers, patterns, domestic items, children’s toys and paper doilies. Some of the text is very open and clear, and some of the text is merged with other approaches. There is also a lot of humour when we meet and a sense of belonging and friendship which cannot be faked. These relationships are real and a 2 way street in communication and how I interpret their stories.
There is a strong sense of home with most stories. I remember once being told that the best things in your life happen in the home, but also some of the worst. This isn’t a negative quote, but it is true – parties, births, deaths, break-ups, make-ups all are based around or in the home. There is a piece which is titled, “Who will fix it for you, Who will fix it for me, Fix it for yourself”. This is a comment on institutional abuse and the many cover-ups which it led to, but also of redemption and closure. That was one of the stories which emerged through the process. It is a piece which often gets negative comments, but it is a social comment on that case, from someone who used these words in their story.
How did you feel about the outcome of the project?
I don’t know if any artist is ever completely happy, but I am pleased with the exhibition, its flow, its humour, its pace, its light and shade. Because there were lots of different stories, it is almost like a series of small collections of work coming together. There is a defining thread running through the work though, with the repeated use of text, colour, pattern and words.
The work itself is my interpretation of the stories, so the saying that there are three sides to every story, “your side, my side and the truth” can be used for the work, but I prefer to say “only half this story is true, but the rest is necessary”. Everyone has their view of things which happened, their understanding of events, and you have to take that into account when you are trying to produce art which reflects people’s stories.
I grew up in a period when people bought mass produced prints of half-naked women staring seductively from above aunts and grandmothers mantlepieces and I thought that was incredibly racy. Prints of the Blue Lady, and the Crying Boy images were popular among the working classes, but you just wouldn’t see in more affluent homes. I like to think they told their own stories of escapism and adventure, and how we decorate our homes is done with a lot of care and attention.
Where to now given that this project is completed, and the exhibition is underway?
Solo exhibitions take a lot out of you, especially given the kind of practice that I do, with a lot of personal contact and research, but it is rewarding working with the women, giving something back and satisfying my own creativity and development.
I will be starting a new Arts and Older People’s project with the Golden Thread Gallery, and I am going to be working with the musician Paul Kane from the OTH Collective, blending music, art and fashion and some consultation and design work with the Shankill and Glenbryn residents, which should keep me busy!
- Testimony continues until Saturday 28th October at Roe Valley Arts Centre, Limavady. Lesley is based at Flax Art Studios, Belfast
To see more of Lesley Cherry’s work see the links below