I found Emma Biggs to be a very good speaker, the enthusiasm and passion she had for her work was infectious. Biggs introduced the lecture by drawing our attention to the equalisation of gender presented in the mosaics and frescoes of the Chora Church in Istanbul. And how it was "strikingly odd" that they would do this at the time in which they were made (around the 13th century).
Of course most churches and cathedrals of the time would depict an image of The Virgin, although this would be outweighed by several images of Christ. Which is why Biggs noted how unusual it was to have such a balance of the sexes within the Chora Church.
Biggs is clearly inspired by classical mosaic, as the craft in itself is very long-established it would be difficult for one to ignore how it was originally used. And although her work is not necessarily religious, she does not ignore the historical context of her artistry.
Biggs drew an interesting comparison from Tracy Emin's 'Everyone I've Ever Slept With' to The Virgin at the exit/entrance in the Chora Church.
Biggs believes there is an unconscious connection between the two. The Virgin is positioned over the exit of the church and so when everyone leaves it could be read that they are metaphorically re-born from her loins. She feels this is similar to the open and direct depiction of 'Everyone I've Ever Slept With'. When the viewer leaves the inside of the tent they have come from a very intimate and private place of Tracy Emin. She singled out the explicit nature of both works, how the works tell you what needs to be said. They obviously evoke a response but they don't necessarily have an agenda.
It goes without saying that mosaics cannot be achieved without the aid of broken pots. When discussing some key aspects of her practise she specified that "handmade and industrial pottery is important to [her] work, not least by its gendered associations". In the respect that crockery is by and large advertised with a clear female slant, reinforcing the old stereotype that women are the homemakers and so kitchenware is singularly appropriate for women.
She spoke of her earlier life when she went to University in Leeds during the 70s and how it seemed as though everyone around her was in a punk band or knew someone in a punk band. She later admitted it was interesting how her current work is almost a rebellion of a rebellion. She went to University and ripped her clothes, started smoking and drinking to kick against what her parents had taught her was appropriate behaviour, only to kick against this defiance by reverting back to a fixation of handmade pottery and mosaic making.
However, before she got involved with mosaics she worked for Vivienne Westwood after leaving University, and found that this was not the right avenue for her within the artworld. She happened upon a group of Italian immigrants that made mosaics in the classic way& picked their brains about the media, as her heart truly lied in the making of a thing. It sounded all very exotic from my perspective but I suppose when you discuss your personal history to an avid audience you may be inclined to romanticise somewhat?
Biggs went on to discuss her work 'Made in England' with is a beautiful mosaic consisted of the underside of pots.
She acquired these pots through various donations made by people from Stoke-en-Trent. As that area of the world was rife with art schools and artists in its day due to the demand for creative people to make pots etc. Stoke-en-Trent obviously suffered from globalisation like China's handmade pottery industry did in the 90s, and 'Made in England' was a small way in which Biggs felt she was giving back to the community.
She spoke about how "content alone is not enough", she had to give depth to her work with context or else it would only have been an old-styled mosaic made in the modern day. After discussing 'Made in England' her talk became much more passionate. Describing how each base of the pots that were given to her have a different texture and artistry with the stamp placed on them. Whether it has been hand-painted/stamped/embossed/lithographed makes a difference in "the variety of tone", and leaves a trace of the makers' working day. This connection with the past was significant to her and the work.
Finally she discussed some of the issues she faces with making artwork. About how "aesthetic content is frequently outsourced by artists to fabrications", which I took to be a criticism of how contemporary art has lost is cogency. Artists are bypassing what is aesthetically sound to create something generic and seemingly aesthetic, but falsely so. In Biggs' opinion "something's been lost and I think we should reclaim it", the humbleness of making something because it just looks good is very much lost in the artworld today. To the point that we have a detached response to the work, a "bloodless aestheticism" were we critique a work avoiding saying anything that just marks the work as 'good'.
I ask, that if art is truly subjective, surely there should be a place for all its forms? Can there not be a time when high-brow artwork can be considered purely based on whether you at that moment think it looks good?
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