Art Review
Beverley Hawksley – Memory and Identity
Beverly Hawksley’s show at the Nathaniel Hughson Gallery ends this Saturday (June 1) and you should certainly take the opportunity to see her beautiful paintings.
Hawksley’s uses single figures and portraits to explore identity and memory; something that many would never admit could be the source of creative research. In the last few years, however, this view has started to change.
Eleni Bastea wrote in her 2004 work entitled Memory and Architecture the following:
“Memory inspires us to create or re-create a fleeting vision from a dream or from our waking moments. As that yearning and nostalgia for the visible and invisible past fares up, they inform and enrich our present.”
And Patricia Hampl wrote in her 1999 work entitled Memory and Imagination that the “true memoir is written, like all literature, in an attempt to find not only a self but a world.”
What I find most remarkable about Hawksley’s work is how she focuses solely on the body to explore the theme of memory and identity. The physical space within which her figures are set is almost a void. As someone who believes that identity, memory and space are interconnected, Hawksley, nevertheless successfully creates a powerful series of works. I particularly like her smaller pieces.
Again, Hawksley’s work is well worth the time and effort to see in these last few days.
The Nathaniel Hughson Gallery is located at 27 John Street. Beverley Hawksley’s show ends June 1st.
