billboard commission #3

Michal Iwanowski: Minus the Mother

Launch date 11/09/20, 6pm. Booking essential due to covid restrictions. Info coming soon.

Spit & Sawdust’s third Billboard Commission is Minus the Mother by Michal Iwanowski.

For this Billboard Commission Michal Iwanowski presents a previously unexhibited work from his ongoing series Minus the Mother. These photographs, all of the artist’s mother, explore loss and the anticipation of loss through a series which memorialises her and their shared relationship. This series is an invitation to reflect on the nature of grief, prepare for it, and know it; it is an invitation to approach those feared or uncomfortable questions, within an environment of obvious love.

The selection of this image, alongside Spit & Sawdust’s gardening project (more info here), focuses us on the contemporary awareness we are facing towards the mortality of our own planet, of the environment, of ‘Mother Nature’ - and what agency we have, if any, towards saving the earth, and ourselves from impending crisis, and destruction.

Sited in Spit & Sawdust’s outdoor yard, the Billboard Commission provides a large-scale, site-specific platform for artists to exhibit work within this multi-aspect venue. This is the third Billboard Commission - curated by Nia Metcalfe and Becca Thomas of Spit & Sawdust, and funded by Spit & Sawdust, with support from Wales Millennium Stadium Charitable Trust.

Artist website www.michaliwanowski.com

Instagram @michaliwanowski

Image credit: Michal Iwanowski, Minus the Mother (detail), Digital image, 2020. Courtesy of the artist