A World of Islands Exhibition & Residency plus What Does a Design Residency Do? Forum Event

Curated by Stanley Picker Fellow Ligaya Salazar, A World of Islands considers the movement of indigenous knowledge, practices, materials and people, and historical fabrications of tropical utopia and dystopia, featuring works by Stephanie Comilang, Ronyel Compra, Carol Anne McChrystal, Ceramica Suro, Derek Tumala and Alex Quicho. The exhibition (5-23 Sept) brings together artistic perspectives and research on the Philippine archipelago, its climate and its people and their movement. One of the largest diasporic tropical populations, Filipinos are dispersed in over 100 countries through forced, government-sanctioned and voluntary movement across oceans. For London Design Festival the exhibition is accompanied by a special residency by Carol Anne McChrystal (9-19 Sept), which will explore casting volcanic ash from the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo Philippines. McChrystal is an artist whose materially driven sculpture practice uses chemical processes and labour-intensive hand-making to explore the legacy of colonialism and trade, as well as the ways in which the climate catastrophe has compounded these histories of inequity. In our Project Studio we are presenting Hemp, Earth + Politics by Angela Ford (Studio Raw Origins), practitioner and educator at Kingston School of Art. Investigating the overlooked ancestry of hemp, its practical applications as a unique design and architectural material and as an underutilised food source, the project showcases Ford’s Raw Origins Hemp range alongside new research, historical artefacts and chromatography. The exhibition, associated residency and displays accompany the second iteration of What Does a Design Residency Do? an international forum initiated by Stanley Picker Gallery (London) and IASPIS (Stockholm) to connect new forms of residencies and fellowships. Contact stanleypickergallery@kingston.ac.uk to request an invitation for this one-day event on Monday 18 September.