Evidence of work undertaken for the shemza.digital project grant - NLPG-00551503
In 2021 we held 6 co-creation workshops with different communities from across the country, specifically, young people, adults, LGBT+, refugee communities (V&A) and vulnerable women (Clement Saint James). Based on the co-creation workshops Aphra created digital designs for new artworks. In this project we turned these digital concepts into physical reality and created 9 new artworks for the Wolverhampton Art Gallery exhibition called “Shemza Digital: Across Generations”.
The interactive and participatory digital artworks shemza.digital #4,7 & 8 were created in collaboration with the public in two user testing workshops with young people at the Margate School and university students at Middlesex University. There inout was invaluable for how the interaction was designed and implemented.
shemza.digital #4
shemza.digital #8
shemza.digital #12
shemza.digital #5
shemza.digital #9
shemza.digital #6
shemza.digital #10
shemza.digital #7
shemza.digital #11
The artworks above plus works by Anwar Jalal Shemza from the Estate and a specially commissioned soundscape by NYX and Petit Oiseaux accompanied the exhibition. See more details of the exhibition below.
Shemza Digital: Across Generations
14th January - 16th April 2023 - Wolverhampton Art Gallery and online
“The abstract art of Anwar Jalal Shemza gets a digital reboot by his granddaughter Aphra Shemza.”
— Jonathan Jones
“This exhibition is something of the future; visitors can delve into a digital world as well as being part of it. This is just the start of an exciting programme that Wolverhampton art Gallery has to offer for 2023.”
— Councillor Stephen Simkins
Quotes from exhibition visitors
“This is a truly landmark exhibition. It engages with a range of key debates: heritage, digital literacy and codes etc...”
“The inter-generational aspect of this exhibition was both moving and inspiring to view and appreciate. Thank you.”
“An incredible, important, beautiful affirmation of the Islamic and abstraction in our society.”
“The lights were great! They made my jaw drop.”
“As a person with autism I loved the visual lights, especially the archway.”
“Lovely display. Different to anything we’ve seen before.”
‘One Circle, One Square, One Problem, One lifetime is not enough to solve it.’
Anwar Jalal Shemza, 1962
Shemza Digital: Across Generations is a hybrid exhibition bringing together the abstract art of Anwar Jalal Shemza (1928-1985) and the contemporary digital practice of Aphra Shemza, the artist’s granddaughter.
The British Pakistani painter Anwar Shemza’s visual language combines modernist abstraction with the aesthetics of Islamic architecture and calligraphy. Founded in 2020 by Aphra Shemza in collaboration with the computer artist Stuart Batchelor, the shemza.digital project uses digital media, sculpture and light to create captivating immersive installations inspired by Shemza’s abstract forms.
This first gallery features interactive light-based sculptures that respond to visitors’ movements, and participatory digital projections created by the public. You are invited to create your own digital paintings to add to the ever-evolving archive of work exhibited in the space. A specially commissioned soundscape by NYX and Petit Oiseau accompanies the work. This fuses traditional South Asian instruments with drone and ambient electronic sounds.
The adjoining gallery presents artworks by Anwar Shemza on loan from the artist’s Estate and works from the Wolverhampton collection. An archival display provides historical context in relation to British art history and the impact of migration on contemporary British art today.
The exhibition is also hosted on the Gallery’s website and can be experienced virtually from anywhere in the world.
Find out more at https://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/whats-on/shemza/
Virtual Exhibition
We also produced a virtual version of the physical exhibition that could be explored online.
To ensure the best possible experience of the virtual exhibition you will need a good internet connection, a laptop/desktop computer and use Google Chrome internet browser.
Shemza Digital: Across Generations Public Program
Alongside the exhibition we held a full public program, which featured workshops for children and adults alike teaching them about heritage, migration and digital art and art making. Over 350 people attended our program.
On the 16th January 2023 I trained a group of 8 artists and university students to run workshops with school children over the course of the exhibition. The school’s program featured 5 workshops for 135 schoolchildren from yrs 4, 7 & 8.
I also ran a number of workshops myself over the course of the exhibition such as;
20th February 2023 - Half term children and families workshop - 6 sessions of 5 people each session - 24 children + adults
21st February 2023 - Half term children and families workshop - 6 sessions of 5 people each session - 16 children + adults
15th March 2023 - 2 x Still Lively over 55s sessions - 2 sessions of 20 people in each - 35 people total
15th March 2023 - 1 x session with Youth Art Forum 14-25yrs - 10 total
18th March 2023 – Saturday Art Club – 15 young people age 13 -16yrs
On the 25th March 2023, we also held the Shifting Ground: A journey through the work of Anwar Jalal Shemza talk event. The event was hosted by Rachel Garfield, Professor of Fine Art at RCA and explored the potential for reimagining collections in the postwar context. We heard from Hammad Nasar about his curatorial interventions in the field and delved into the contemporary artistic practice of Aphra Shemza (Anwar Jalal Shemza’s granddaughter) by featuring the shemza.digital project and current exhibition here at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and show how Shemza has inspired the next generation of British artists working today. The event was attended by 56 people.
Video: Recording of the Shifting Ground event.
Image: Visitor interacting with shemza.digital #4
Image: Aphra Shemza teaching a workshop
Art in Flux: Transformations event at National Gallery X 22nd September 2022
On the 22nd September 2023. I curated, hosted, presented and exhibited my work as part of the Art in Flux: Transformations event at National Gallery X. This was the first time my new interactive light sculpture was exhibited in the public and was a great platform to share the shemza.digital project and the exhibition that was to come at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. See more information about the event below:
Over the last 3 years, Art in Flux in collaboration with National Gallery X, have led a public discourse on artistic strategies to address societal needs including the need for equal representation, environmental change and wellbeing. By asking important questions around agency, accessibility and the role technology and creativity play, this discourse culminated in the ‘Transformations’ event at National Gallery X. In this event we came together to reflect on tectonic shifts in society, and how media artists encounter, engender and question such ‘Transformations’. More info here: https://www.artinfluxlondon.com/transformations-ngx.html
Video: Recording of the Transformations event
Image: Aphra Shemza presenting at Transformations event
Image: shemza.digital #3 on exhibition at the Transformations event.
MIMA Program
shemza.digital #13
shemza.digital #14
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) commissioned me to produce two workshops, one for local university students and the other for their regular Art + Social group. In the workshops members of the public created a ‘squircle’ design element using a new version of our digital painting app. The Squircle’s were then combined by me after the workshops to form an animation that was going to be exhibited on their 30 metre light banner on the buildings facade. I created the animation for the light banner but unfortunately the banner itself broke down and we were unable to use it for this project. Instead I created a window vinyl design for the balcony at the top of the building and reformatted the videos to be shown on MIMA’s Youtube channel. MIMA also produced an interview with the artist for this project which you will see below.
More info here: https://mima.art/project/shemza-digital/
shemza.digital #15
Publishing
For the final part of my project I used the evaluation data that we had collected throughout the Across Generations exhibition at Wolverhampton and used this to illustrate how successful our project had been in raising awareness of migrant art in British Art History and making digital art and art making accessible to all ages. The outcome of this research was an academic paper entitled Shemza Digital: Across Generations which was published by EVA Conference in July 2023.
Building on my sustainable practice research I also created a best practice blog post entitled “Uncovering the hidden costs of digital art practice” and shared this with my network of artists at Art in Flux and SPACER.
Shemza Digital: Across Generations paper
Uncovering the hidden costs of digital art practice blog
Hearing from artists interview by MIMA