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12 Portraits
12 etched plates chrome faced (2008) each plate 10cm X 10cm.
Bs1 was a two year programme of creative interventions in response to the evolution of Cabot Circus, in Bristol from building site to retail centre. Six artists, were invited to participate in the BS1 programme. The Bs1 project was conceived and organized by Neville Gabie who was the artist in residence during the build from 2006 to 2008, working closely with Sam Wilkinson of InSite Arts, the arts consultants for the whole development.
Dryden Goodwin made a series of 12 etchings of heads responding to the different histories and cultures of the incredibly large number of people who worked on the development, local people as well as people originating from all around the world. An edition of prints were made from the plates, before the plates were permanently installed into a curved polished slate wall, part of the central stairwell to Cabot Circus. As part of a blog that was written during the process of the work Goodwin described......
“......The buildings themselves are, in a way, monuments to the work force, by creating a small, permanent and detailed record of just twelve of the different individuals, I hope to evoke and suggest a sense of the personal contribution of thousands. From featuring the individuals who are leading the whole development, across the spectrum to the bricklayers and canteen staff, in a single horizontal line, in no particular order, I want to emphasize a kind of democracy of shared endeavour……..Placing this small scale series of portraits in the heart of the development next to the central stairwell and underneath the epic roof seemed to counterbalance the eventual inevitable invisibility of these people, this area being a place where visitors to Cabot Circus are encouraged to sit, rest, eat and talk…..”
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