WHAT REMAINS (Cabbage Patch Kids – stage II)
The Smallest Gallery in Soho presents “WHAT REMAINS” (August to September 2024), a site-specific installation exploring ecological urgency and capitalist exploitation by London-based interdisciplinary artist Molly Grad.
Phase II (WHAT REMAINS) brings about an evolution of Cabbage patch kids (Grad’s previous installation at “The Smallest Gallery in Soho”) in which the cabbage patch has been deconstructed, the cabbages dug out, and an oversized construction ribbon begins within the small gallery vitrine, exits through the window and then wraps itself around the building’s façade – as if bringing it into visibility.
Grad created a time limited intervention from the front gallery space across the building’s façade - the intervention, which involved Criss crossing a purposely formed patchworked textile artwork across the building’s facade is aimed at a “so called” cordoning-off of the building, inverting the purpose of regular nylon construction tape or barriers into plush patchwork velvet. The ribbon passed through inner offices which are invisible to the observer at street level, anchored up on the roof and visibly passes through façade windows as if they were eyes and the ribbons are keeping them shut.
Cabbage Patch Kids
The installation Prior to this one marked a first phase in the artist’s vision (March to August 2024) -
Cabbage Patch Kids (images attached at the bottom of release) expands on Grad’s ongoing interest in excavating urban surfaces, metaphorically unearthing the city’s industrial past by creating an otherworldly space in which sculpted fabric cabbages, symbolising children, grow out of pure, clean soil, where “luminous blue arteries run through the leaves, pulsating to and from the earth source, nurturing it, making plant and human one” - Grad. This reparative gesture is disrupted by a dystopian vision: “for the final work, I imagined that the cabbages have been violently plucked from the earth and placed onto the ground, their budding bodies nestled in an unnatural clay-like soil which has become barren, stripped over centuries of its nutritional, nurturing traits” - Grad.
The exhibition, “What Remains” will be accompanied by a series of public interventions, in both Central and East London. The interventions across Central London are described by the artist as fleeting street sculptures and will take place throughout last two week of August without prior warning to the general public. These involve a process described by the artist as “corseting concrete”, which requires hours of repetitive physical movement across a public space as the artist threads soft brightly coloured recycled fabrics through the crevices of neglected urban environments - a gesture intended to insist on visibility and to act as a catalyst for creating greater social awareness for society's so-called invisibles, from mothers to construction workers.
The intervention that will take place in Hackney, Dalston CLR James library on the 4th of September is backed by Hackney Council and Arts school plus and is part of Grad’s residency project with Hackney It is aimed at creating a place for said invisibles: Mothers and those identifying as female suffer from a chronic illness. There will be a space formed by Grad at Hackney library that will be dedicated for impromptu meetings, discussions and rest for the duration of the 4th. (This event will be communicated separately)
Through the process of creating the temporary works, Grad comes into contact with members of the public, prompting organic conversations about identity and visibility:
"My fleeting street sculptures are an attempt to confront collective trauma within the urban environment through a labour-intensive weaving process to ask questions about visibility and our loss of empathy for the other. I am drawn to spaces in a city which have been edited out of our vision for some reason, from transitional spaces like car parks to towering council estates, hidden corners of bustling city centres and non-descript buildings that hold an essence relevant for my research. I use velvet to recall restrictive corsetry ribbons from a previous era. The act of binding this material is intended as a subversive and reparative gesture in an effort to connect with communities and contribute to social repair" – Grad
This sculptural intervention in the heart of Soho combines natural and synthetic materials to present a fantastical vision for reconnecting with nature and with the creative impulse. The work forms part of an ongoing commitment to making the invisible visible.
About the Artist:
Molly Grad completed a Master of Research with Practice from the Royal College of Art in 2023. In
2001 and 2006, she graduated with first class degrees, BA and MA, in Fashion Design (Womenswear) from Central Saint Martins. Previous solo exhibitions include: The yellow mulberry tree, curated by Huma Kabakci, at 10 Greatorex Street (London) in 2023, Barricades staged in an ex-retail space that has since been demolished on Finchley Road (London). Notable group exhibi-tions include Inspirational women at aspacearts gallery (Southampton) in March 2023, Naturally not binary, curated by Anett Kiss and Cas Bradbeer at IMT gallery (London) and Reduction to satire, an online exhibition curated by Fatoş Üstek in 2022.
www.mollygrad.com & instagram.com/mollygrad
Friend of the Gallery interview by London Art Roundup
Find interview with the artist and about the show via this link https://www.londonartroundup.com/reviews/artist-interview-molly-grad
As a Friend of the Gallery, London Art Roundup is provided with advance and behind-the-scenes access to interview the artists that exhibit at The Smallest Gallery in Soho. All contributions are voluntary. Neither the artist, gallery or London Art Roundup received any financial compensation for this interview.
Photo credits: R. Ivey
