Exhibition research

‘Jason and the Adventure of 254’

‘Jason and the Adventure of 254’ is a joyful exploration of the body, drawing on the artist’s (Jason Wilsher-Mills) experience of becoming disabled as a child. This entire exhibition feels very nostalgic, as if the audience was looking into Jasons life through a lense. Each sculpture has an order to it, almost as if its taking you through each stage of Jasosns life. My favourite part of this exhibition was learning about Jasons story, understanding what happened in his lifes journey and how he felt about it. I thought that the stories behind each sculpture were amazing and were clearly and cleverly communicated through his visual work. As soon as you walk up to the entrance to this exhibition, you are greeted with vibrant and large scale sculptures at the door. I remember walking into this exhibition and imedialty being impressed, as the first thing i was was this HUGE sculpture of a hospital setting bed scene. This exhibition is right up my street, exploring colours, shapes, patterns and large scale. I lovedddd how everything in this exhibition could be touched, encouraging people to use their senses to navigate around the room. A big part of my project so far has been making physical outcomes, ones that can be worn and touched and this is something that i really enjoyed doing and loved seeing in someone else's work. This allowed

The first sculpture was ‘Calliper boots’ which were a recreation of the boots Jason had to wear in hospital. He said that this sculpture was his way of reclaiming these boots as a positive depiction of how he feels about his disability, adding colours and patterns to them to make them more decorative. These boots were large-scale, realistic yet cartoon like looking. I love how he used different shapes and patterns like swirls and lines to recreate the visual of skin, making it look like someone was wearing these giant boots. The boots looked like something that i would see in a weird dream, one where i'd go hiking through puddles of colours and patterns whilst wear Forest Gumpps boots. The visuals of this sculpture felt so playful and almost childlike, yet it was hiding something more serious and deep.

‘Sebastian Coe’ was the next sculpture that I saw which was of a figure in running race gear with a TV as a head. This sculpture was pointing the neighbouring sculpture, with that sculpture pointing back at ‘Sebastian Coe’ as well. Around this sculpture are ‘virus soldiers’ running in between this and the neighbouring sculpture. These army figures look like something from toy story but this time they were attacking, clearly on a mission to do something. But when you look up above this sculpture there are giant blue viruses that loom over your head, casting shadows across the gallery. I found this sculpture extremely interesting as Jason explains the relevance of '245' that is in the title of the exhibition, on 'sebastian Coes' shirt and just mainained through the project as a whoel. Jason says that he can pinpoint the exact time of his diagnosis to 2.54pm as it coincided with Sebastian Coe winning the 1500-metre race in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which was being shown on the ward's ever-present TV. 254 also happened to be Coes racing number. Jason talks about the significance of this number and the moment that his life altered forever, directing him towards his path as an artist. When I read this, I felt extremely overwhelmed, as if i was reliving that moment he found out his diognosis, the one that changed his life forever.

‘Figure in the bed’. This sculpture was the nehibouring sculpture to 'Sebastian Coe', all about how Jason was bedbound. Jason had a condition where an army of white blood cells in his body were attacking him instead of defending him. This figure represents Jason's memory of what was happening to his body, with ‘virus soldiers’ invading his body and swollen feet to massive proportions to symbolise pain. This was probably one of my favourite sculptures in this exhibition as the closer you looked, the more things you noticed. For example, you could see the inside of this figures body, being able to touch and feel his organs. Whilst i was running my hands up and down the sculpture, i felt like i was one of those tiny 'Virus soilders' invading his body. I felt this way as this sculpture was looming above me, 10x my size. whilst i was following these tiny action figures runnign along his arms and legs. Throught my experience at this exhibition i felt a mix of feelings and often felt that i was either in his shoes, reliving his memories or looking in from an outside perspective feeling like a trespasser. Another thing that i found interesting about this sculpture was the lighte that were all along the figures body, lighting up and flashing when a button was pressed. These light signals showed the neurological pathways from his brain to his body gone awry. I thought that every aspect of this sculpture was amazing and although it looked very light hearted and fun, it was actually very moving and emotional. I am in awe and truly inspired on how Jason depicted this mundane hospital setting, yet made it look so positive and playful.

The walls are also covered with giant illustrations that recap of Jason’s medical progress. It goes through each month of the year, telling you and showing you something that happened during that time. I am in love with these large illustrations as they are detailed, joyful and colourful, filling the room and walls with lights and positivity. When i visited this exhibion, there were lots of childrent there running arounf, looking at the walls and touching the sculptures. This was extremely intresting and a compelling thing to me as they were viewing this art as fun and pretty instead of rather serious and deep. Obviously at such a young age they cant really interpret the meaning behind the work, but seeing all these chikdren reminded me of how Jason was young when he got his diagnosis and is now portraying his diagnosis in a more positive and lighthearted way that even younger people could understand. I also felt that i didnt really need the desctiptions and text to know what was happening (obviouls it helps and adds so much more context) but i felt that the visual communication was so strong that you could king of tell what was happening at first look of the sculptures. As well as this, in a non creepy way, seeing these children running around made me remeber how precious life really is and how your entire world can change at any moment.

The other sculptures dotted around the exhibition looked like penny arcades that display and recreate old memories or Jason’s. These ‘Memory arcades’ can be lit up by buttons, shining light onto the intricate designs within them. I was enchanted by this as it made me feel as if I was living through Jason’s memories, shining a light on the things he loves and remembers. All these vibrant arcade-like booths had so much colour, light and energy which made it feel extremely nostalgic yet present. There was one in patrticualr 'Mum as a Mermaid' which especially caught my eye. This was about how he has fond memories of hsi mum swimming in the north sea on holidays, illuminated by jellyfish. This arcade game like sculpture in particular stood out so much to me. It felt like something from a dream with the blue and prrupel light and the mythical looking creatures. Whilst looking 'Mum and the mermaid' I felt rather emotional as it reminded me of some of my childhood memories swimming at the beach which feel so far away. It also brought up memories of my very recenlty passed grandmother who enjoyed swimming in the sea as well. I really appreciated all of these arcade like sculptures as they ahd lots of layers to them, creating depth to the image as well as making you look to the very back and corners of the frame. Whilst i was looking closley at each frame and looking right to the back, i felt as if i was slowly learning more about Jason and his life.

I felt so honoured to get a glimpse into Jasons life and all his stories, reviling his memories and emotions. This exhibition was truly amazing and is my favourite exhibition i have ever been to. I felt to close to Jason and his story, getting taken through his juorney step by step. Theres so much more i have to say about this exhibition that i just cant articulate.

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