INHABIT.
About The Project
Part-residency, part-performance, part-participant piece, Inhabit is the latest project from Bristol-based artist, Beth Kirby.
Taking place at 17 Midland Road, Bristol over one week, Kirby will inhabit the gallery space as a studio and workplace, continually filling the surfaces of the gallery with work with her subject being the inhabitants of Bristol. A roster of professional life models and volunteer members of the public will join the artist in the space throughout the week, being drawn from life, where the sketches will go on to bear new life as developing pieces as the week progresses. Throughout the week, the artist will be viewable through the windows of the closed gallery.
An obsession with the human form is at the centre of Kirby’s work, with the artist previously conducting three publications with reference material taken from the submissions of strangers. Her work regularly discusses the theme of the body, and our relationship to it, both on a personal level and in through the public eye, exploring every corner of meaning imbued upon the body.
The aim of this project is to push the boundaries of this exploration in every way - by drawing the bodies of strangers in an intimate way, by working exhaustively to represent all manner of forms and bodies, by relentlessly developing work whilst the world watches, and by inhabiting a space fully and undividedly, as we question the ways in which we inhabit ourselves.
For this project, I’m opening up the floor to applicants to come and be drawn, by me, in real life. For me this feels like a natural progression from the previous book-based projects I’ve done before (most recently Nude Solitude in 2020, where I drew hundreds of submissions from strangers whilst we were all locked away in COVID confinement), and a natural progression from the life drawing classes I have been leading since 2019.
As the residency is short, I have limited spaces for participants, so I’m requesting everyone who is interested in posing for me fills in this application form. It’s really important to me that people who would like to be involved understand the project and piece of work I’m creating, so please read the form carefully and fill it in if you’re interested in being a part of this. I’ll get back to you before the 24th September if you’re successful!
