Stuck inside a bald game, 2024This is stale mate, 2024
Think outside the boxes, 2024
Carbon print on paper pulp
36 x 36 cm
Chess bored, 2024Ceramic chess pieces, ceramic tiles and wax on reclaimed wood
80 x 36 x 36 cm
Moving to Hackney Wick a few years ago and finding community connection through attending a local chess club at the Hackney Wick Baths, chess is a game that has been a creative vehicle for me to explore the idea of play within and outside the home. Making punny references to the game I still struggle to play despite my commitment to attending a club, these wall-based works are made from pulped, recycled paper from my studio.
'Chess bored' consists of a chess set that was collaboratively made by children I run workshops with in Lewisham (Saturday Art Club with the charity group AFRIL), in my previous home borough. This work brings together two groups of people that span my past and present home locations. The children were invited to make with the colour of clay they personally identified with and produce their own chess piece from their own imagination. The set contains wild and wacky characters that add a whole other element of difficulty and more importantly fun to a game of chess. 'Chess bored' is a reclaimed table which I found locally and I have added handmade ceramic tiles to it. Installed with two chairs, the chessboard was used by those visiting the exhbition opening, many enjoyed a slightly confusing game of chess with untraditional chess pieces, for this version of the game reallt had ‘to think outside the boxes'.
Installation view of Chess bored, 2024The chessbored table is now set up in the Hackney Baths cafe area for it to be intergrated into use outside the exhbition and hopefully reunite with players from my original chess club!
A drawing made by Priscilla who attended Saturday Art Club, her written response to chess piece making involved a curious statement in which her spelling mistake prompted gave her drawing a double meaning, and inspired the writing in the above wall piece ‘Stuck inside a bald game’.