Fringe Box

Socialize

Twitter

All-female Art Collective Sees The Light At Guildford Cathedral

Published on: 17 May, 2018
Updated on: 17 May, 2018

A new art exhibition organized by an all-female art collective is to open in Guildford Cathedral next week. Called Standing in the Light, the exhibition will open next Thursday, May 24, and will run until June 20.

The exhibition features work from the KanKan Collective, a group of women artists who are all alumnae of the University of Creative Arts (UCA), Farnham.

Carolyn Macleod’s work Remembering Suzy will be on show at the exhibition.

Each artist has interpreted the theme, Standing in the Light, in their own way. They have produced works in a variety of media including sculpture, glass, paintings, textiles, photography and poetry.

The cathedral’s Canon for Education, Dr Julie Gittoes, said: “We are delighted to host this exhibition which celebrates the work of women artists as they respond to the light and space of this cathedral in a range of media. We hope that our visitors will find much to contemplate, explore and engage with as human creativity points us to the radiance of God’s light refracted in the world.”

Work by Julia Webster.

The exhibition will be opened next Thursday by eminent artist and UCA alumna, Mary Branson. She recently installed New Dawn, a contemporary light sculpture celebrating women’s suffrage, in the entrance to St Stephen’s Hall in the Houses of Parliament.

She said: “I’m delighted to have been asked to open KanKan Collective’s exhibition at Guildford Cathedral. Their work is an exciting, diverse and illuminating mix of ideas and influences responding to the light filled space of the cathedral.”

KanKan Collective has exhibited in the past in the South East and in London. More information can be found at www.facebook.com/KANKAN.collective.

Share This Post

Responses to All-female Art Collective Sees The Light At Guildford Cathedral

  1. Jim Allen Reply

    May 18, 2018 at 9:27 am

    If a group of men had got together excluding women for an art display would that have been permitted?

    We really do not get this equality thing properly sorted out.

    Either we have ‘equality for all’ or we are allowed our individuality with who we choose.

    It currently appears a very biased mixed pot of equality rights.

  2. Keith Reeves Reply

    May 22, 2018 at 5:04 pm

    It’s disheartening to read a comment like this below the line.

    Yes, there is nothing to stop a group of men doing this. Such an organisation or grouping wouldn’t constitute an ‘association’ under the Equality Act, subject to its size (if fewer than 25 members) and/or membership selection process (if by invitation, for example).

    We might ponder why women might feel moved to group together in this way. It might also be worth thinking about what’s behind #Me Too or why people are discussing the gender pay gap…and so on.

  3. Jan Todd Reply

    May 24, 2018 at 8:55 am

    Initially, Jim Allen’s comment made me burst out laughing. Then, I felt like banging my head against the nearest wall. As Keith Reeves says – yes, if ‘a group of men had got together excluding women for an art display’, of course, it would have been permitted. Does Jim Allen really feel that men are being excluded from exhibiting their artwork by all-women groups, and that this is an equality issue? As Keith Reeves says, at a time when we’re discussing the gender pay gap and the harassment of women in the workplace, it really is disheartening to read a comment like this.

    • Jim Allen Reply

      May 27, 2018 at 10:00 am

      My comments were based on the “Publicity and the Equality” website. [I can’t find this site can you check its title?]

      We don’t see white men organisations. For example, there is no “White Police Officers Association”, the idea would be outrageous, so why should there be a Black Police Officers Association?

      Currently, the story is that only 2% of public statues are of women. But it is probably equally true that 99% of statues are of privileged people, born to wealth. Should we knock all the statues down?

      White British men are a large proportion of our population and most of us have had little say over the wrongs that have been done in the past, often before we were even born. But discriminating against white men is still discrimination.

      Surely a group of artists should not worry about the gender of its members? We should not replace one prejudice with another.

  4. Adam Aaronson Reply

    May 24, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    I am more than a little confused with Jim Allen’s comments. He seems to be mixing apples with pears and ending up with oranges. Not a lot of what he has written makes any sense to me.

    This is surprising, as usually, this erudite campaigner has important, well analysed, views to share.

    However, in answer to his question: “If a group of men had got together excluding women for an art display would that have been permitted?”

    Undoubtedly.

    In answer to his comment: “We really do not get this equality thing properly sorted out.”

    This has nothing to do with “sorting out the equality thing”. It is an art exhibition.

    In reply to his statement: “Either we have ‘equality for all’ or we are allowed our individuality with who we choose.”

    I’m not really sure what that means or what that has to do with it.

    In response to his statement: “It currently appears a very biased mixed pot of equality rights.”

    What on earth does he mean by this? Is he trying to say that it is wrong for a group of artists to choose whom they exhibit with?

    If so, my response would probably be too impolite to print but to paraphrase…Rubbish!

  5. Angela Shaw Reply

    June 13, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    It appears KanKan Collective have unwittingly stirred up a gender/equality debate by exhibiting together as KanKan Collective which is certainly not our intention.

    It just so happens that our collective is made up of female artists, who enjoy collaborating, exchanging ideas and inspiration and occasionally exhibiting together.

    We are all artists and have our own practices. Men are not excluded – it is just none have maintained contact since graduating from UCA Farnham where we all met.

    This is the thread that loosely holds the collective together.

    As 2018 marks the centenary of suffrage for women over 30, it seems appropriate to celebrate the privilege of being able to let our light shine and share it with others.

    If you come to Guildford Cathedral to see the exhibition I believe you will have the experience of an inclusive and creative exhibition which is free of any feminism, but displays the dynamic synergy engendered when artist endeavour comes together in such a majestic setting.

    • Alison McFadden Reply

      June 13, 2018 at 8:56 pm

      Nicely expressed Angela. As one of the exhibiting artists, I couldn’t agree more.

      When KanKan collective artists exhibit together, there is always a positive, creative, artistic energy.

      That is even more poignant, this year, with the marking of 100 years since the first tier, in the hard won process, of women’s suffrage.

      Exhibiting art, is also such privilege, in the beautiful, sacred space that is the cathedral.

Leave a Comment

Please see our comments policy. All comments are moderated and may take time to appear.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *