The story of Folk Art is everyone’s story.
Folk Exchange is a live project to develop a diverse and pertinent understanding of Folk Art. We are asking our visitors and communities; what does Folk Art mean to you?
As part of the launch of this project we have made additions to our Folk Art gallery, including new artworks on loan, collection spotlights, and discussion prompts.
‘Folk’ conjures the hand-made, home-grown, self-taught and shared within a community. We see traces of this in our everyday life, but we may miss them. Folk has evolved with society and our way of connecting with Folk may appear differently to how we would assume.
We are inherently creative as people and engage with ‘Folk’ through songs, dance, story-telling, healing, cooking and making, whether that is in the form of knitting, gardening, graffiti or making games.
Folk Art represents work made by ordinary people, demonstrating the creativity of those who may identify as neurodivergent, working class, affected by conflict, disabled, chronically ill, incarcerated, as well as hobbyists and activists.
The Folk Exchange project at Compton Verney seeks to encompass the crafts and customs of communities who have been excluded from the collection previously, but who are integral to the landscape and cultural heritage of Britain.
We Are Here Because You Were There, 2022-24
Faisal Hussain
Lightbox sign, acrylic and aluminium
Faisal Hussain is a Birmingham based interdisciplinary artist, who explores representations of South Asian culture through popular media and government messaging.
The title is a quote from Sri Lankan-British writer and activist Ambalavaner Sivanandan. It explores patterns of migration following British colonial occupation. In the aftermath of colonial rule, promises of security led many South Asian people to emigrate to Britain, finding new communities in the industrial West Midlands. Sivanandan was a pivotal figure in the fight for equality within the UK.
This piece was first exhibited on a street near the artist’s home in Birmingham. Hussain’s shop signs interrupt the British street with assertive messages. These make explicit colonial histories and politics underlying the restaurants and independent businesses at the centre of our communities.
Plastique Fantastique is an artistic collaboration between David Burrows, Simon O’Sullivan, Alex Marzeta and Vanessa Page.
The work interweaves narratives around folk in contemporary culture with the traditional practice of tarot. The cards feature memes, an emerging folk medium, exploring the entwined history of folk struggle and the adoption of new technologies.
Internet memes emerged in the early 21st century, consisting of an image or message that is altered by successive creators as it spreads. Popular art is mass produced, reproducing recognisable subjects and motifs, whilst folk art remixes these in a more personal way.
The Tarot deck contains memes organised into four suites: the Zero-City Suite, the Traitor-Trickster Suite, the Rogue – Tech Suite, and the Solar Suite. Visit the gallery to test your hand at divination and read your own future using the artwork.
Tarot: Your Future in Foolish Memes (2020)
Plastique Fantastique
Table with tarot cards, paper, wood and felt