Holly Graham on weathervanes and the wake of slavery
‘Within which all this is suspended: Acts of betrayal'
In her 2016 book In the Wake: On Blackness and Being, the scholar Christina Sharpe outlines a methodology for understanding the aftermaths of slavery in transatlantic spaces and institutional structures. Her overarching concept, that of the ‘wake,’ informs the thinking behind Holly Graham’s Contemporary Collaborations installation at Robert Young Antiques. Within which all this is suspended: Acts of betrayal takes a collection of RYA weathervanes as its inspiration, in particular one that takes the form of a galleon ship, taking a deep-dive into the historic and symbolic pools that immerse these objects. What might such truth-telling, proof-providing objects betray about the weather systems of today?
Over zoom, Holly told me about Sharpe’s influence on the project. ‘The wake is essentially an aftermath, but she brings in other meanings: wake as being awake or conscious; wake as in mourning, watching, honouring. She talks about ‘wake work’ – the idea of methods of care and attentiveness surrounding what this wake might mean. She talks about the ‘hold’: in particular, she thinks about transatlantic slavery, and the ship’s hold as a painful place of violence. She talks about the weather, too. What enables these events to occur, if the atmosphere is the total environment that enables systemic racism? I liked the idea of plucking some of these themes and metaphors from her writing, and grounding them in these weathervanes, instruments directly engaged in signposting and prophecy.’
Holly Graham installation in T=Robert young Antiques ‘Contemporary Collaborations’
The installation itself presents a system. A structure of copper pipes provides the display with its own industrial-looking skeleton. Having worked with copper before, Holly is interested in how it weathers and corrodes when it comes into contact with the elements. ‘It’s involved in ship building for that reason: rust degrades a material, but copper develops this corroded surface and still stays strong.’ Sheets of sheer silk-like fabric draped over the copper structure have text printed on them, and these words, alongside white vinyl text on the window’s surface, make up a ballad in three parts: three acts of betrayal. The text is the sinew of the installation and shares its title, which appears at the back of the display, words shining in glints of orange against the bluish corrosion of a copper plaque. A fan also features as a component, conjuring movement to signify the wind as it directs airflow towards Holly’s centrepiece – a handmade wooden arrow which references the history and symbolism invoked by the weathervane motif. Supported by an exposed system of copper, it sits proudly in the middle, the first moving installation RYA is yet to host in its window.
Also key to the body of the work is an audio piece, created by LEYLAH, Holly’s sister, which can be accessed via a QR code on the window. The piece is a response to Holly’s words: featuring glass singing, samples of splashing water, and lines from the text, it makes an evocative companion. ‘I work with sound quite a lot, but the two of us haven’t collaborated in this way before,’ Holly tells me. ‘Lots of audio work I’ve done previously has been with archival material, voice-based but not necessarily musical. Since the text is central to the work, having the audio aspect makes it feel even more heavily written, rather than just visually constructed.’ LEYLAH graduated from Guildhall in jazz vocals last year: ‘it’s been interesting to see how the themes in her work overlap with those in mine – diasporic experiences, women’s experiences – and this felt like a good time for us to collaborate. I've done collaborations before but always held editorial control, and it was different to just hand something over to another creative. I enjoyed the process. I feel positive about it.’
Embedded in Within which all this is suspended: Acts of betrayal are themes already present in Holly’s art practice. An ongoing project, Sweet Swollen, thinks about the legacy of labour and exploitation surrounding sugar, tracing turbulent histories and linking them back to what is recognisably in the present; a residency with Southwark Park Galleries last year prompted similar research into histories of movement through food. Engaging with and cultivating a longer historical memory feels important in a capitalist climate dominated by obsessive innovation and ‘progress’. We suffer from an infatuation with what’s next, and what’s new. Infatuated and overworked, amnesia settles in: it becomes difficult to be historically attentive, or awake to the past. Holly’s project is an important exercise in historical memory, drawing on words and objects to question the climates and systems defining our ‘Now’, in the wake of past events.
Speaking about her practice in general, Holly told me: ‘I always like my work to be responsive to something. This is how I work best. A space like RYA is quite specific, it’s not just a white cube. The starting point of this project – having an object to respond to – was really stimulating for me. I try to tune in and really listen to that starting point.’ The outcome is a fragmented assemblage of things, unified by the same thinking and research. Although the installation is very much in the here and now, it is responding to the ‘Then’, the ‘Before’, the ‘After’ and the ‘Between’ within which all this here and now is suspended. To betray these weather systems, to make visible what is unseen, is to reveal
what atmosphere
what circumstantial framework
what hostile environment
persists in the turbulence that comes after violent past events. How can we think about responding to these, as starting points? Institutional racism and white supremacy remain as painful and oppressive remnants of slavery; there are no shortage of signposts and nautical architectures giving this away. How might we reckon with these conditions, to build a better, anti-racist climate? Now, still, wrought in the wake, there is work to do.
You can see Within which all this is suspended: Acts of betrayal in the window of Robert Young Antiques until 10th April.
Words: Alice Keeling