Exhibition Dates: 5 November – 20 November 2021
PV: Thursday 4 November, 6-8pm
Location: Artcore Gallery
Osnabruck Square, 8 Albert St, Derby, DE1 2DS

* Content Warning– drink, drugs, prison, violence, death *

Dudley: Mostly I remember as a kid feeling like scum. That’s what I was called at school when people found out my dad was a dealer. And when he was sent to prison. I’ve been demoralised, humiliated and groomed by people with much more power than me throughout my childhood and after having my home taken, I’ve had nothing stable because I was dependent on someone who relied on illegal labour to survive.

Lisa: I was called ‘disease’, because I was scruffier than everyone else, dirtier. I’d never invite friends back to my council flat, I was ashamed. But I was proud of my dad, he was raising me on his own and doing the best he could. My mother had issues with drink and drugs, and issues with motherhood, she wasn’t around. I told school friends she was dead. It was easier that way.

I thought I’d be the same as her, due to my drinking. But I worked hard on myself and now I’m four years sober and ready to be a mother. I’m finding it hard to conceive though, having just gone through IVF, twice. I’m not ready to mourn my mother and her legacy in me. This is brutal. Loss of motherhood from both ends is grinding me down. I also began to blame the prison system for punishing my partner for behaviours in his drug addiction, for forcing us apart in my last fertile years. This residency is helping me to work stuff out.

Dudley: Sometimes I can’t begin to explain. I live in a different reality to most people. PTSD or as I prefer to call it, a war. At the same time, I wanna be open because other people being candid helped so much.

During the residency, whilst exploring threads of sobriety trauma recovery, my dad relapsed and died. Now he lives with his ancestors. The addict alcoholic ones. Next to those who died in custody. And those who died homeless.

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Nottingham-based artists Lisa Selby and Dudley were selected for one of three NMG Development Programme Collaborative Project Bursaries, in partnership with Artcore, aimed at pairs looking to work collaboratively to develop and deliver a project together.

Lisa and Dudley were in residence at Artcore in Derby from August – October, working together on a new series of work with a focus on changing public perceptions around addiction and incarceration, helping to connect people who are affected by these issues.

The artists chose to use this period to care for themselves through practice, to then help others to process, reflect and make – making trauma count in society. 

About Artcore:

Artcore is an international centre for contemporary art and creativity based in Derby, UK, and is home to Artcore Gallery, studios and work spaces as well as a shop and café. A vibrant hub for commissioning, production, presentation and debate, we offer opportunities for diverse audiences to engage directly with creative practices through participation and discussion.

Here at Artcore we believe that contemporary art and creativity are central to the development of people and places. We have an extensive exhibition and residency programme which helps support early, mid-career and established artists to create work which deals with pressing social, political and environmental issues.