Blind Memories is an exhibition commemorating the anniversary of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It features the work of artists (alpha order): Ana Avendano, Joanne Gibbs, Rita Keegan, Cheryl Lane, Taslim Martin, Agnes Poitevin-Navarre, Susan Stockwell.

Colour Coding Julien & Jasper – The Age of Innocence (2003, (2 works, 100 x 70), eight-colour print on Kodak paper) are two separately-hung facial portraits of artist Agnes Poitevin-Navarre's young sons of the same names. The images are each around 70cm x 45cm, and seem to be originally photographic, top-lit in natural lighting, which have been partially abstracted, so that areas of different colour appear surrounded by lines like contours on a map. It's only evident that there are colours on fairly close looking - at first glance the images look more or less two-tone. That's most likely part of the point, as a theme linking these two works and the artist's other item in this exhibition is the level of detail put into separating people by reference to subtle differences in the colours of their skins. Each area of colour is given a name - there are around 17 surrounding each image, each name with a line to its area of colour, describing kinds of darkness. For the boys, these are flavours and foods: chocolate, caramel, coconut, milk, cinnamon, ginger, chestnut.

Agnes Poitevin-Navarre's other exhibit, Colour Coding Eva – Here & Now (2007, (100 x 70), eight-colour print on Kodak paper) is a study similar in technique of the gallery's elegant curator, Eva Langret. Her image is larger than the boys', around 70cm x 70cm with about 26 descriptive words, many more than for the other two works. The words are different in quality too - a selection of how people have been described: tragic mulatto, crιole, brixton brown, coconut (sometimes a term of abuse - black outside, white inside). Eva Langret looks out of frame, a half-smile on her face. According to Agnes Poitevin-Navarre's artist's statement: 'Colour Coding Julien & Jasper - the Age of Innocence is about speculating on the terminology that mixed-race people will use in the future. The poetry works in contrast to the realism of Colour Coding Eva – Here & Now that relates to the past and the present, encapsulating some residues of colonisation in French, English and Spanish languages.'

Events during the exhibition include a performance of Halily by Hakim Onitolo; Rites of Passage: Rita Keegan in conversation with Michael McMillan (curator, The West Indian Front Room, 2005); Agnes Poitevin-Navarre in conversation with Paul Goodwin (Black Urbanism Project, Goldsmiths University); Film - Blacks in Wax, by Marcus Wood, followed by a discussion with the director. Details: Eva Langret eva@198.org.uk, www.198.org.uk.

List of Works: Agnes Poitevin-Navarre - Colour Coding Julien & Jasper – The Age of Innocence, 2003, (2 works, 100 x 70), eight-colour print on Kodak paper. Agnes Poitevin-Navarre - Colour Coding Eva – Here & Now, 2007, (100 x 70), eight-colour print on Kodak paper. Cheryl Lane - Painting Philomela's Room, 2007, board, bird cage, Corinthian Greek-style column, cotton balls, found stool, milk bottle, feathers, clay birds, mirror, framed mirror, and newspaper. Ana Avendano - Memento Mori 3, 2006, (70 x 100), digital print on paper. Ana Avendano - Memento Mori 4, 2006, (70 x 100), digital print on paper. Ana Avendano - Memento Mori 1, 2006, (70 x 100), digital print on paper. Joanne Gibbs - Masks, 2006, 5 framed prints on paper, door, doormat, postcards. Rita Keegan - Rites of Passage, 1992, prints on acetate, metal chain, video. Taslim Martin - Whose History?, 2007, clay drawing. Susan Stockwell - Cycle map dress studies (Arizona, Africa and Brazil), 2006, maps, paper. Susan Stockwell - Cartographic Dress, 2003, maps, paper.

Artist Credits: (alpha order): Ana Avendano. Joanne Gibbs. Rita Keegan. Cheryl Lane. Taslim Martin. Agnes Poitevin-Navarre. Susan Stockwell.

Company Credits: 198 Gallery: Curator - Eva Langret. 198 Gallery, 198 Railton Road, Herne Hill, London SE24 0JT, t 020 7978 8309, info@198.org.uk, www.198.org.uk

END

John Park

reviewed Thursday 27 September 07 / 198 Gallery

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008