ARTISTS TALKING

AIR member Andy Parker is enjoying the last week of his residency on Saint Helena Island in the South Atlantic Ocean – one of the most isolated habitations on the earth. His two-month residency was preceded by a month-long journey by boat, and he will depart again on Christmas Day, having prepared work for a solo show at The Museum of St Helena, opening in February.

The island covers just 42 square miles, and Andy reports that he has managed to explore most of the island and meet a good number of its 4,000 inhabitants: “Saint Helena is a unique place in the history of trade, and has been entirely reliant on seaborne deliveries since its discovery. I knew a little about it as my mother was born here, but these fragments were nothing more than odd snippets and myths that have provided some of my starting points for working here.”

“The relationship to objects and material is very different here to the rest of the world.. There is only so much stuff you can fit on a ship, and it can only be so big, and on top of that, a ship may only bring supplies once a month. This breeds an imaginative approach to the things that are used here, and has shaped the culture and language. It is something that will be affected greatly when an airport is constructed here in 2010.”

Projects during the residency have included harvesting and processing flax to make a length of rope from which to dangle himself, and botanical paintings of mundane invasive species, later used for target practice at the local rifle club (pictured).

The residency was funded by a Deutsche Bank Pyramid Award, following Andy’s final show at the Royal College of Art this year.

www.andyp.co.uk