Rana Begum: 'Space Light Colour' at The Sainsbury Centre

Some of you will know, from my vlogs, that one of my besties Nalini came down from London to pay me a visit a couple weeks back. And one of the things I was desperate to show her; seeing that she would be in town, was The Sainsbury Centre - of course! Especially seeing as Rana Begum was exhibiting. it was bound to be a good show.

Be sure to check it out here: http://scva.ac.uk/art-and-artists/exhibitions/rana-begum

It's one of my favourite places to go in Norwich. I have been itching to see the Rana Begum's exhibition for a while now, because her work was familiar to me as I'd seen some of it last summer in London (after waiting in line for over four hours! with my little brother) to see Yayoi Kusama's exhibition at the Victoria Miro Gallery. Begum's works were across the way, in the neighbouring Parasol Unit Gallery. They were captivating and caught my eye in such a way that I knew I had to pop down to the UEA campus and get another look.

Upon traversing the spiral staircase up onto the mezzanine gallery level, we were instantly immersed and encompassed by Begum's 'No. 670 [2016]' Mesh installation. 

A sea of limey yellow, crimson red, and a deep grey gridded irregular structure, with edges that seemed to blur together.  This installation seemed so solid yet ghostlike, with an ethereal material quality in its composition. Without a definite starting or finishing point.

One thing I noticed was that this piece cast some really wonderful shadows on the walls around it which I thought were lovely. The shadow play was like a piece itself and I for one are here for shadow play. 

Nalini was particularly mesmerised by it, so we spent a good while getting lost in it both upon our entry and exit of the exhibition.  It was nice to lay and sit on the floor, and gaze at it from varying viewpoints.

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Next I was drawn to this display cabinet of model and maquettes of what I can only assume to be (from the architecture student's viewpoint) the investigative process of trialling projects on smaller scales to see and get a feel for what they look like realised with relative human scale. 

I'm not sure exactly what scales they were, definitely a range and some really large ones - I've never seen scale model people so big before! These were wonderfully displayed on a shelf with varying void with glass on either side so we could get differing perspective of some pieces. I could've stared at them for hours!

My favourite was the one where there were a series of coloured acetate squares that hung, suspended.

I also love this one where there was a wooden slab, a beautifully bent piece of metal and a piece of concrete attached.

Something else within that space, were these beautiful folded sculptural jaunty triangular planes that sat on the wall, infused with pops of colour. 

So as you traversed around them different colours would show, or there would be a glow hue of a colour of a face you couldn't necessarily see, but knew was there.

The one thing I love most about Begum's work is how simple yet impactful it can be. The following piece; 'No. 161' , 2008 (paint on powder-coated aluminium, each of 16 pieces: 250 cm height) I particularly liked. Not only was it fab to photograph it was a beauty to marvel at too!

Again with the shadows, there was some nice play of the cast on the walls. Something which I really enjoy about Begum's work is that to really experience it you have to move around it, to appreciate the work in it's full glory.

This is particularly apt in her piece 'No. 658' where the colours from sculpture each stood out in different ways, depending on where you stood. It's a bit tricky to describe and a photograph doesn't seem to do it justice. You just kinda have to be there. Another piece I should mention is 'No. 529 2014' which was so striking I actually didn't get my camera out and just sat down to marvel in its awe.

Something particularly poignant that Begum has said is that; 'Form and colour are at the mercy of light.' This really stuck with me and I feel like her work definitely acknowledges that.

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I did happen to make a video blog that day so feel free to check that out to see an overview and and glimpse of this exhibition. Nalini had such a great time that she's headed back there today in fact!

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Upon exiting the exhibition space Nalini and I noticed the bright orange fluorescent jackets and had ourselves a little photoshoot.

         

We were supposed to photograph their glowing reflection against the white walls of the mezzanine gallery. but by the time we had finished with the photos, we were far too warm to do much else.

Mind you we were experiencing a heatwave here in the UK and those jackets were far from breathable.

We had such a great time mucking about in these jackets! I love some of these snaps Num got of me, some very candid, some not so much.

I genuinely felt like we were on an old school America's Next Top Model episode doinig a high fashion photoshoot challenge.

After feeling like supermodels for the day, we headed into the main collection as I had to pick up my student member card and had a quick look. I particularly liked these to pieces that were suspended from the ceiling. I am always here for anything suspended, there's just something about it that intrigues me. 'Variable Screw' by Kenneth Martin (left) and 'Sphère-Trame' by François Morellet (right).

Another thing I actually had semi-breakdown over were the collection of Antony Gormley sculptures dotted around the campus. Nalini actually captured and made fun of this on here snapchat. I vlogged the day so you can view that here where I include the clip.

Shoutout to UEA and the Sainsbury Centre for giving NUA student concessions on exhibitions and events - it's greatly appreciated. It's also just a lovely space to explore and roam - as an architecture student I am constantly in awe of it. Every. Single. Time.

Thanks for reading by,

much love,

Margaret

xx

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