This year as part of the Platform Graduate Award, four artists came together to create Tender Grounds. An exhibition that explores the delicate and fragile qualities that connect the artists’ works, both in their materiality and their emotional undertones. The artworks are imbued with a shared sense of tenderness, reflecting themes of vulnerability, sensitivity, and rawness.
Ash Goller – Oxford Brookes University
Ash Goller’s multidisciplinary artworks serve as a sanctuary for the queer community, celebrating moments of intimacy and support. Through their creative process, Goller crafts spaces of connection, reflecting the strength and beauty of queer experiences.
Jamie Bragg – Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford
Jamie Bragg’s paintings are inspired by photographs taken by his great-grandfather, a British Army serviceman stationed in Salonica, Egypt, and Palestine between 1915 and 1916. These images blend serene landscapes and moments of camaraderie with the stark realities of trench warfare.
Through painting, Bragg reflects on his family’s connection to these historical events, offering a nuanced exploration of personal and political history. Bragg’s work balances beauty and unease, encouraging viewers to confront the complexities of memory and colonial narratives.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DDfNO8kIskZ/?hl=en
Katrina and Luca Dayanc – University of Reading
Katrina and Luca Dayanc take you behind-the-scenes, showing their creative process behind their sculptural works in Tender Grounds.
Through a layered video collage of waste materials, rust, and patina formation, the artists reveal their collaborative studio practice. Discover how they explore themes of neurodiversity and queerness, balancing their work on the threshold between destruction and preservation.
Tender Grounds is on display at Modern Art Oxford until 12 January 2025.