Rosalind Barker

‘nobody’ Kaleidoscope Gallery Artist Residency January 2020

Rosalind worked in the gallery in a time frame leading up to the first anniversary of her mother Phyllis’ death. 

 ‘nobody’ references Phyllis’s loss of self and all physical functions and abilities as she faded into Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Phyllis spent long years lost, diminished and fearful. 

Rosalind’s relationship with Phyllis will be her muse in this prospective body of new work based on their memories and the objects held dear. In an experimental and playful way that reflects their early relationship, she hopes to restore a presence, essence and dignity to Phyllis. 

A residency allows time and a new working environment to permit ideas to flourish and birth. This residency is partly curated with work also influenced by her mothers predicament, all created since Rosalind’s MA Drawing (2016)

 A new body of work  is evolving from my three-week residency ‘nobody’ at The Kaleidoscope Gallery, in Kent, UK in January 2020.  ‘nobody’ was about the loss of my mother to Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia. Working with objects and images that linked us in happier times, I had hoped for a new playful body of work to emerge, that reflected our early relationship, while also restoring a history and dignity to my mum. I rubbed our loved objects with compressed graphite to create sculptural drawings.

I found that I have returned to the faces of my original dolls, while mimicking my mum’s love of fashion, texture, colour and glamour. I have been dressing the rubbed dolls with found images from luxury Vogue and How to Spend It magazines. Ripped and redesigned in a playful flamboyance of drawing, collage and silk thread.