This month’s exhibition: Finding a Happy Ending showcases a work by Jackie Berridge while also drawing attention back to the war in Ukraine. Jackie’s work highlights how making art can help us cope with things beyond our control and how in particular drawing lets us speak our deepest truths. This makes the Notice Board believe art really is the last place of freedom.
Jackie says: “My work is a mash of inspiration from childhood memories, dreams and fairy stories. I create fantastical landscapes populated with people and anthropomorphic creatures, telling tales of joy, sadness mixed with shades of darkness for the viewer to interpret. For example, the tiny tombs at the foot of the drawing might be the tragic result of combat, or alternatively these shadowy little forms might represent defiant little beans of bravery, standing proud in the face of the enemy.
Making drawings provides a means of escape during times of crisis such as the pandemic. The work shown here focuses on my reaction to the war in Ukraine; I found it difficult to comprehend and sought ways to process and deal with the situation. I am reminded of waking up from a bad dream or a recurring nightmare when the challenge is to change the ending. Through drawing I explore ways of avoiding the horror by providing various shelters, bothies and dwellings as sanctuary and exploring the potential of transformation.
Observational drawing is an important part of the process. But as ideas progress, I prefer to work from memory and imagination, even surprising myself as landscapes and beings emerge in unexpected ways. I love to contrast different gestural marks with graphic elements and occasionally I add objects drawn directly from life which have a personal significance.”
The Ukraine flag flies as an act of solidarity.