Gaining Ground exhibition
13 April – 25 June 2022
Crafts Council Gallery, London
Free
This exhibition has now ended.
Gaining Ground at the Crafts Council Gallery explored craft as a form of living knowledge that shapes global cultures and our relationship to nature.
Curated by Ligaya Salazar, Gaining Ground highlighted global craft practices that value soil, biodiversity, local materials and production systems. Nine making projects were featured in this exhibition through a display of films, photography, audio, handbooks, raw materials, and craft objects.
The exhibition drew on the British Council’s Crafting Futures programme and included work by artisans and researchers from countries across the globe, including Bangladesh, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Argentina, Nicaragua, Guyana, Brazil, Indonesia and the United Kingdom.
The Crafts Council Gallery was transformed into a site for learning, where visitors can engage with craft processes from across the globe. In particular, the exhibition drew attention to territories where colonialism and extractive capitalist processes have disrupted craft knowledge being passed on to future generations. Each project, although geographically and socially distinct, questioned what we can learn from craft to inform climate action and in our quest to build a more sustainable future.
Artisan Voices: Dialogues for Sustainable Practices. Artisans Bernarda Martínez, Lucrecia Cruz and Sabina Cruz from Tejedores Andinos. Photo: Celeste Valero The Seawall Pottery in the Rupununi, Guyana is supported by Wabbani, an Indigenous-led craft social enterprise promoting sustainable artisan-based livelihoods. Photograph: Jay Mistry Making Nature - An Indonesian artisan making a traditional broom (sapu ijuk) Making Nature - Willow weaver Annemarie O'Sullivan
Curated by Ligaya Salazar
Ligaya Salazar is a curator who focuses on contemporary interdisciplinary practice at the intersection of design, fashion, art and graphics. Her approach is shaped by an interest in how audiences can be positioned at the heart of curatorial practice, enabling a human-centred take on storytelling. Ligaya is one of the 2021 Stanley Picker Fellows.
About Crafting Futures
Crafting Futures is a global initiative supporting research for a sustainable future through making and collaboration. The programme provides education and training opportunities, connects artisans from rural communities with international designers, creates international partnerships and increases access to new markets and audiences.
Untitled, Jay Mistry, terracotta and collected wild London clay. Displayed as part of 'Promoting Indigenous identity through pottery'. Photo: Ben Deakin Kuba textiles from the Kilubukila Crafting Futures project. Photo: Ben Deakin
About the British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We build connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education, and the English language. In 2019-2020 we reached over 75 million people directly and 758 million people overall including online broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934 we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. We receive a 14.5 per cent core funding grant from the UK government.
