Cardiff-based artist Holly Davey is known for work that gives voice to the ‘silent’ part of archives, finding the creative potential in gaps and omissions. In 2022, Fruitmarket invited Davey to undertake a number of ‘controlled rummages’ in the archive with a view to making a new work as part of Fruitmarket’s 50th birthday celebrations.
In the archive, her attention was caught by Scottish Sculpture ‘75,an exhibition of the work of eleven men, ten of whom had studied at Edinburgh College of Art. Wondering who the women were that might have been included in this exhibition, Davey followed research threads across Edinburgh’s collections and archives which led to sculptor Ann Henderson, who graduated from ECA in 1945 and taught sculpture in the school from 1948 until her death in1976
Davey’s homage to the 354 women who have shown at Fruitmarket since its opening in 1974, The Unforgetting, is influenced by the work of Ann Henderson. Mining her own interest and experience in working ‘at the edges’ of archives, and with the figures (often women) who have been marginalised in the historical record, Davey uses small terracotta figurines modelled on Henderson’s Little Bather to stand in for the women, and names them in an audio work and printed script. This chorus of women inhabit the gallery in a set-like installation that invites the audience to move around and through it.
The audio work is broadcast in the exhibition on a continuous loop and will have one very special live performance by Jill Smith (formerly Jill Bruce) who was the first woman to exhibit at Fruitmarket in the 1975 exhibition The Manifestations of the Obsessions and Fantasties of Bruce Lacey and Jill Bruce. Smith is a performance artist, and will perform Davey’s script live, beginning with her own name and ending with that of Holly Davey.
Artist Holly Davey said “It has been a privilege to be able to explore Fruitmarket’s rich history, looking at all aspects of the archive: meeting agendas; exhibition slides and photographs; letters from artists; shipping documents; publications; as well as the gallery’s dynamic exhibition history. It was an incredible experience to pull all these women’s names together in a process of unforgetting. I see it as a celebration rather than commemoration of women artists, past, present and in the future. I am only able to make this work because of all the amazing women that came before me. Their work made this possible”
Holly Davey The Unforgetting runs at Fruitmarket Warehouse from 19th October to 17th November 2024 with a free preview on 18th October 2024 at 5.30–7.30pm. All welcome
There will be a free Artist’s Talk and Performance on 25th October 2024 from 6–8pm when Davey will be in conversation with Ruth Bretherick and Fiona Bradley as part of an event featuring a performance by Jill Smith of the audio work which is at the heart of The Unforgetting.
Open daily 11am–6pm
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 