ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½

from Horizons drawing class to the Blyth Gallery

You may have seen a recent art exhibition in the Main Entrance foyer of ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½. Where Meaning Lives is a two-person exhibition by Melina Lee and Ronak Sabu, presented as part of the Blyth Arts Fellowship. What you might not have realised is that the artists, Melina and Ronak, are alumni of Imperial Horizons' practical art modules: 3D Observational Drawing and Drawing from Observation (respectively), and work in the exhibition grew out of themes they explored in the Horizons modules.

The exhibition takes up questions of memory, identity, and belonging, and traces how the movement of people and ideas across borders shapes the way we understand ourselves. As the catalogue puts it, the show "considers how personal tensions and geographical landscapes shape who we become, dwelling on themes of privilege, inheritance, memory, childhood, and the roots we continue to carry through change." 

Melina’s work takes a different material route entirely, working across Chinese ink, graphite, printmaking, clay, papier-mâché and Xuan paper to build a fragile black-and-white world of insects, roots and suspended forms, exploring escape and confinement, growth and entanglement. 

Dr Vicki Kerr, module lead for both Practical Art: Drawing from Observation and Practical Art: 3D Observational Drawing, visited the exhibition in June. She was delighted to observe how the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ had taken the conceptual groundwork of the Horizons module and carried it confidently into entirely new art forms:  "It was particularly pleasing to see how Melina and Ronak had used themes I taught them in class - memory , identity,  belonging and the movement of people and ideas - in their work.  It was also good to see how they had expanded their practice into different mediums - photography and sculpture."

Vicki added that "this shows that there is a long tail to Horizons teaching and further evidence of the importance of art in STEMB learning". 

Where Meaning Lives ran from 23 June to 9 July at the Main Entrance, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, South Kensington Campus. Congratulations to Melina and Ronak on a thoughtful and beautifully realised show.