BEAF Group Exhibition

Corrianna Clarke, Maddison Collymore, Mark England, Sadaf Firoozi, Rose Leyshon, Mark Perry and Nicholas Teo.

Group exhibition presenting intertwining narratives and portraits from the past and present. Responding to the theme of unheard voices, some portraits shown reflect personal stories of migration and journeys, whilst others represent how we identify, relationships and how we envision mental health in contemporary society.

The artists were selected from a BEAF call out for commissions within our festival.

Image ©️ Sadaf Firoozi

BEAF group exhibition is a BEAF 2023 Commission
Free event

Images: From left to right ©️ Corrianna Clarke, Maddison Collymore, Sadaf Firoozi, Mark Perry, Rose Leyshon, Nicholas Teo

Artist Bios: 

Corrianna Clarke: I’m a neurodivergent freelance visual artist and facilitator with specific experience in directing, animation and illustration. My practice is unified by my investment in local place and community spaces – how people of mixed abilities, backgrounds and needs are drawn together drives my desire to share meaningful personal and cultural narratives. Innovative art forms and sensitive, collaborative co-creation that actively elevates lesser heard voices and new talent forms the core of my work. With notions of the creative role as encompassing both tactile product and social process, I aspire to lead diverse audiences to engage with perhaps previously unfamiliar or inaccessible artworks. In raising awareness through conversations and participation connecting regional to national – whether animated, drawn, performed or curated – I hope to draw attention to what many would consider difficult, underrepresented or sensitive subjects.

Maddison Collymore: I am a Bournemouth based multidisciplinary artist with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Arts University Bournemouth, 2019. My practice is exploring dreamscapes or imaginative landscapes that are inspired by my Great Grandmother’s migration from India to the UK. I predominantly use drawing, collage and stitch to trace this narrative of changing cultures, new discovery and resettlement.The work I make is largely speculative with references to intersectional feminism, race and stories of science fiction that aid alternative ways of seeing or being in the world. Part of the creative process is playing with shadow landscapes, spilled pigment or multicoloured drawing techniques that allow the materials to begin the work. I tend to add collage and stitch to then highlight and attach my lineal references. Sometimes participation becomes a part of the work with moments for other voices to collaborate and engage with the process of making. Experimenting with control is definitely a part of my process and a looseness with materials or inviting interaction can take the work in unexpected ways.

Sadaf Firoozi: Having worked as an Art Director in advertising for almost a decade, the title of ‘artist’ does not fully encompass the practice through which Sadaf Firoozi now integrates installation, writing, performance, collage, painting, drawing, film, sculpture, and graphic design methodologies. However, it is the active, creative, traumatized, and expressive body that binds this diversity as a coherent and intelligent critique of contemporary life. The topics addressed derive from personal experience and the social issues that affect both the isolated individual and collective community. Although initiated by a negative viewpoint, the art-making process that follows produces a visualization to be analyzed and shared in positive ways. The stories being told are familiar but open-ended, raising questions in the minds of others. In this way, the audience looks to their own remembered relations and events for meaning. Although “Who are you?” can be met with a simple response, the physical, social, and cultural contexts in which the work is encountered are purposefully manipulated. Just as this artist interrogates her own cultural and geographical shift from Iran to the UK, the richly provocative outputs present shifting situations and narratives.

Rose Leyshon: Rose Leyshon is a figurative sculptor living in Boscombe. She trained in traditional casting methods in Paris and uses a variety of materials including plaster, ceramics, resins and, most recently, bronze. Through her work, she aims to represent the complexities and subtleties of womanhood and sexuality. She uses figuration to portray recognisable people and inspire empathy from the viewer. She’s influenced by artists such as Duane Hanson and Paula Rego for their use of realism and their humanist, political and feminist engagement.
For BEAF 2023, Rose has been commissioned to produce some new sculptures on the theme of “Unheard Voices”. She will portray a variety of identifiable, uncensored and compassionate portraits of the neglected, the tired and the dismissed. The work is intended for the most modest people of Boscombe: it will be amusing, touching and relatable.

Mark Perry: My creative practice is committed to exploring the signifiers of individuality/personality and the way identity is constructed, deconstructed or transformed through life experiences. Contemporary notions of the lens and its technological distortion are key to the gaze I manipulate. Images captured via communications technologies provide a starting point for sketches that are then reworked and edited in pursuit of an appropriate visual language. In this transition from mobile phone or laptop, to canvas or paper, observational representation’s evolve surpassing mimesis to become visualised interrogations of individualism. Within this I have a list of commissions that vary from Fan work to portraits, all of which are guided by the above notion of individuality and identity. To offer something that is observed beyond the representational, and as such deliver a personal reflection on the moment.

Nicholas Teo: Nicholas Teo is a Singaporean filmmaker & photographer now based in Bournemouth.
Currently pursuing Commercial Photography at Arts University Bournemouth, Nicholas’s practice revolves around fashion, fine art, and documentary work. Enjoying all kinds of image-making and describing himself as a “jack of all trades” creative, his work varies wildly in style and subject matter. But born with a curious mind and gentle heart, the common thread of exploring and advocating for social causes like mental health became more apparent in his work and he seeks to pursue this even more in the future.