23 January - 27 March 2015
Jacqui Priestley is an artist who explores the traces and triggers of memory. This solo exhibition features a collection of work inspired by the artist’s love of the sea and memories of her late father.
Some of this work was produced for an exhibition at the Oxo Gallery in London in 2014 called ‘A letter in mind’, for which artists were asked to create a visual response to a written letter. The letter in question is one that the artist wrote to her father who passed away in 2008 and brought memories of the phrase he used whenever she faced problems or worries;
‘‘Tell it to the tides lass…tell it to the tides’’
The resulting work explores the artist’s emotional turmoil following his passing and in the period since his death. The works predominantly use the traditional printing process of lino cut to show abstract forms inspired by the forms and movement of the sea, which the artist so loves and which reflect the emotional turmoil experienced in memory and grief.
The use of the sea as a metaphor also recalls the action of memory. Memory is a dynamic process linked to the passing of time, selectively coming and going like the tides. Each person’s memory is a vast collection of consciousness that we can only comprehend a small part of at any one time, much like the experience of standing at the edge of the ocean.
About the artist
Jacqui Priestley is an artist whose practice is based in St Helens. During 2014 she had a solo exhibition at Editions Gallery, Liverpool and was part of a group exhibition at Oxo Gallery, London. Jacqui studied Fine Art Painting at St Helens College and her work is held in private and public collections at in the UK, US and New Zealand.
