We will only have the future tense, also each other
LAURA ONIONS
19 – 25 MARCH, 2021
For the first in our brand new Print Window exhibition series, SPEAKEASY, exploring the artist's voice and print and protest in contemporary societal issues, artist Laura Onions presents We Will Only Have The Future Tense, Also Each Other
Laura Onions is an artist based in the West Midlands, making work from archival material and collected imagery to consider the spaces we create for ourselves and each other, particularly in relation to feminist ways of learning. Print is a mediator of our social and political identities and much of my work explores our relationship to reading and writing, how this constructs worlds and perspectives. As a printmaker, she seeks to loosen the processes and perceptions of printmaking, often using a painterly approach to materials or altering how we experience printed matter.
SpeakEasy is a brand new programme of 5 x 1-week exhibitions of digitally printed posters, displayed in the Print Window of AirSpace Gallery, for visual creatives to reflect on and respond to the issues of our day. SpeakEasy comes from a place of protest and an urgency to speak out and be heard. Inspired by the print revolution, which gave platform to voices that were unheard, reaching an audience of the hitherto under (or selectively) informed. Well into the mid‐fifteenth century, books remained printed by hand, and were thus harder to obtain. Exposure to books and their information was predominantly a privilege of the wealthy, that is until Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. Gutenberg's invention revolutionised western culture in ways that would help shape and spread political and ideological change, and encourage revolution.
SpeakEasy believes in the power of the artist's voice, in the power of the message and in the power of print.
Interdependency is central to the message and form of this work. Doves, synonymous with themes of love, gentleness and partnership are an evocative symbol for relationships. Originally a mono-print, this tender image is split across the two surfaces, like the pages of a book, together but also separate. The accompanying text skips across both halves. We will only have the future tense, also each other a phrase by author Quinn Latimer is statement about the need for solidarity and togetherness if we are to move through uncertain times towards a shared future tense. The two posters should be seen in tandem with one another, forming a whole.
- Laura Onions, 2021
- Laura Onions, 2021
Laura Onions is an artist based in the West Midlands, making work from archival material and collected imagery to consider the spaces we create for ourselves and each other, particularly in relation to feminist ways of learning. Print is a mediator of our social and political identities and much of my work explores our relationship to reading and writing, how this constructs worlds and perspectives. As a printmaker, she seeks to loosen the processes and perceptions of printmaking, often using a painterly approach to materials or altering how we experience printed matter.
SpeakEasy is a brand new programme of 5 x 1-week exhibitions of digitally printed posters, displayed in the Print Window of AirSpace Gallery, for visual creatives to reflect on and respond to the issues of our day. SpeakEasy comes from a place of protest and an urgency to speak out and be heard. Inspired by the print revolution, which gave platform to voices that were unheard, reaching an audience of the hitherto under (or selectively) informed. Well into the mid‐fifteenth century, books remained printed by hand, and were thus harder to obtain. Exposure to books and their information was predominantly a privilege of the wealthy, that is until Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. Gutenberg's invention revolutionised western culture in ways that would help shape and spread political and ideological change, and encourage revolution.
SpeakEasy believes in the power of the artist's voice, in the power of the message and in the power of print.
