Radical Gifting: Artists 2023

Louise is an artist and curator, born in Aotearoa New Zealand, based in Margate. Louise uses installation, moving image, photography, writing, participatory works and sound to explore humanity’s evolving understanding of Earth’s environments and the cosmos. Her experience of living under two types of night sky, the first in low level light polluted areas in Aotearoa, and the second in higher level light polluted cities and towns in England, has deeply informed her practice. As light pollution increases around the world humanity is losing a symbolic visual connection to the cosmos, shared by our ancestors throughout history. She explores how living under dark skies, or light polluted skies, can change our perception of grief, the climate crisis and Earth’s deep time history and future. Louise holds an MA Art and Science from Central Saint Martins and a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Middlesex University London.

Most recent awards, residencies and commissions include ACE DYCP Grant (2021), Grand Union x University of Birmingham MA Art History and Curating Exhibition Award (2022), Birmingham, England, British Council Pakistan – UK New Perspectives (2022), Space Studios x ARUP Commission (2022), Art + Air Exhibition Commission (2022), Curating Climate Commission Forestry England x Signal Film and Media (2022), the Jean Harrison Commission (2022), Photo Fringe 2022 OPEN Eco (2022), Vera C. Rubin Observatory Kickstarter Grant with the University of Canterbury Mount John Observatory, Aotearoa New Zealand (2022), Derby Cathedral and FORMAT23 Photography Festival (2023) and has been awarded her second Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant (2023), A Siren’s Call with Art on Romney Marsh (2023), GRAIN Projects Photographer In Residence at Cannock Chase with Forestry England (2023), LOM+You (2023), People United (2023) and is currently a Master Mentor for Barker Langham. Louise has recently written a chapter for a forthcoming book, Dark Skies: Places, Practices, Communities, edited by Nick Dunn and Timothy Edensor, to be published by Routledge in 2023.

Maggie Huiming Yang is a Chinese artist and community art practitioner based in the UK working across London, Kent and China. Her research-driven practice primarily deals with material culture and social documentary, exploring the cross-disciplinary use of moving-image, experimental illustration, graphic design and craft to record and study cultural stories. Her work is profoundly inspired by her Chinese Kam heritage, as well as immense curiosity towards cultural anthropology and natural history. She’s particularly interested in investigating notions of slowness and sensuous experiences in visual forms, as well as transmitting them through the expansive use of visual communication as publicly engaged methods to work with communities. She’s currently delivering a series of therapeutic art workshops for Live Well Kent & Medway on behalf of Kent County Council, a charity-based programme supporting the mental well-being of communities in Swale and Medway. Maggie holds an MA in Visual Communication from the Royal College of Art and a BA in Film, Television and Digital Productions from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Rachel Ella Taylor is a Kent based public artist, public arts programmer, inclusive arts education specialist, consultant, and artist researcher whose work focuses on the social impact of shared visual arts encounters from the participant perspective. Placed at the intersection of art, community development, and the authentic revitalization of underinvested communities; Her agenda is genuinely serving underrepresented people. She is best known for her leadership in the realm of mass participation/engagement in the arts with ‘hard to reach communities’. Breaking down convention and the walls of institution, Rachel devises new ways of exploring complex subjects with diverse audiences and helping nurture more inclusive cultural and heritage spaces.

Over the last 17 years, Rachel has developed a methodology of co-creating large scale co-created public art installations with communities for communities alongside bespoke educational programmes. She has led on self-directed programmes funded by The Arts Council England, Arts & Heritage Research Council and The Royal Institute of Chemistry. Her work has initiated and enriched audience participation for clients such as The Royal Botanical Kew Gardens, The ICA, Turner Contemporary, Luton Culture, Coventry City of Culture and Rachel has recently embarked on devising, programming and delivering a cross cultural international public art collaboration commissioned by the British Council bringing her co-creation methodology to Bali, Indonesia.

Examples of Rachel’s Co-Created work can be seen on Instagram: Ephemeral_Rachella