Supporting contemporary art
Museum of Garden History, London
11 July - 31 August 2003
Mr & Mrs Ivan Morison In 1618 the elder John Tradescant made a journey to Arkhangelsk at the top of Russia and wrote an account of the things he observed. In 2003 Mr & Mrs Ivan Morison also visited Arkhangelsk to make their own observations.
Following the highly acclaimed Diversion in 2002 and A Month in the Garden in 2001, both presented by Danielle Arnaud contemporary art and hosted by the Museum of Garden History, Exhumed explored notions of storytelling, ancestry, memory and interpretation of history.
Taking as its starting point the histories of the 26,000 famous, infamous and anonymous bodies held in the grounds of the museum, Exhumed featured 24 artists practising in a range of disciplines and media. Artists focused on well-known figures like Captain William Bligh, the John Tradescants and the Slade family as well as those bodies for whom little or no evidence remains.
Artists participating in the event included: Orla Barry, Suky Best, Cleo Broda, Clare Bryan, Michael Buchanan, Lisa Cheung, David Cotterrell, Phil Coy, Pascal-Michel Dubois, Peter Dukes, Oona Grimes, Stephen Healy, Sophie Horton, Tom Humphreys, Sophie Lascelles, Lynne Marsh, Lisa Z. Morgan, Mr & Mrs Ivan Morison, Paulette Phillips, Kate Scrivener, Finlay Taylor, Adam Thompson, Shane Waltener and Sarah Woodfine.
The exhibition was accompanied by a publication featuring two commissioned essays from Tiffany Jenkins, Institute of Ideas, and Jon Newman, Lambeth Archives, which explore attitudes to death and the disposal of human remains from ethical, religious and historical perspectives. The catalogue also documents all commissioned artworks in the exhibition.
A series of workshops with the pupils of Walnut Tree Walk School and a talk outlining the aims of the exhibition, chaired by Tiffany Jenkins, accompanied the exhibition.
Supported by the Arts Council, England.
