Artist Development Residency

Artist Development ResidencyThis residency supported 6 early-career artists local to Barking and Dagenham. The selected artists were: Danny Baxter, Jess Burnett, Griffi, Sahra Hersi, Indre Neiberkaite, and Ravinder Rayit.

The residency was facilitated by artist Raju Rage who devised a responsive programme based on the group’s individual and collective interests, practices, and needs for artistic and professional development. The programme included studio discussion, mentorship, guest speakers, exhibition and field trips, workshops, film screenings and social events. Starting in June and finishing in September 2018, the programme consisted of four development weekends over the summer. In between these weekends the six artists took residence in The White House studios and focused on their independent practices.

The residency culminated in an exhibition, The (Not So) White House: Local Resonance. The  group individually and collectively explored intricacies of  the allegorical that relate to integrity, morals, spirituality and  politics. The exhibited work drew on themes of language, interpretation, mythologies, testimony, alternative education, domesticity and community  space.

The Artist Development Residency was a pilot programme, which aimed to support and create new opportunities for members of groups who are under-represented in the arts and have a strong connection to the borough of Barking & Dagenham. Through the pilot programme we also hoped to challenge the notion of a formal training environment and lay down foundations of a new kind of support framework for artists working in the borough.