Artist's Corner: Nicola Dale - Blogpost 1

Our new major artist commission has just started. Nicola Dale is a British artist working across sculpture, performance, image and text. She will work on the 50 Jewish Objects throughout Februrary and March and through blogpost she will tell more about her research and creative processes.

This is the first blogpost of a series.

Each time I start a new piece of work, I have to address the point of what I am doing. It’s a reflex I wish I didn’t have, but there it is anyway. 

In approaching the archive of 50 objects, the question of motivation is thrown into relief because these artefacts are brimming with purpose, intention and function – how do I respond? How do I respond on point?

Having begun to study the objects, I note that as well as engaging me visually, they make my hands and ears tingle. They lead me to address an unknown ‘you’:

My hands touch the paper you made; the writing you wrote; the books you bound. I hear voices in the distance. I can’t make             out the words, but I know I am being invited to listen to history and feel it in my fingers.

And so the point of what I am doing becomes a little clearer: the work I make in response to this archive will also be seen, heard and handled. It will be a translation of sorts - a point where perspectives meet, and a continuing conversation.