16NSt Presents “Hush lil baby” Shae Myles’ solo exhibition at Strangefield
When
Thu, 23 November 2023 - Sun, 17 December 2023
Thurs – Fri: 12.00 – 19.00 Sat – Sun: 12.00 – 17.00
Where
Strange Field, French Street - Strange Field, 105 French Street, Glasgow, G40 4EH
Further info
Cost: Free
Type: Exhibition
Step into the Polly-Pocket-inspired world of artist Shae Myles in her upcoming solo exhibition “Hush lil baby” curated by 16NSt Curatorial Collective. Opening Thursday, 23rd November, 7pm-12am at Strange Field’s French Street venue (105 French Street) with an evening of femme play, performance with Myles and Femme Castratrice @femme.castratrice, and Y2K tunes with Mojxmma (Mo-Jam-ma) @mojxmma, the exhibition will run until Sun, 17th Dec at French Street.
‘Hush lil baby’ is the first solo exhibition of Glasgow-based emerging artist Shae Myles, inspired by the world of the 1990s Polly Pocket compacts.
“I’m keen to delve into an exploration of how play transforms into adulthood. I’m drawn to Polly Pocket to form the conceptual framework for this body of work, to explore the complex interplay between childhood memories, the spilling and keeping of secrets, desire for nostalgic revelry, and the transformative power of imaginative play” – Shae Myles.
Myles’ exhibition displays an interactive sculptural installation that will act as a site for live intervention and performance directed by Femme Catratrice, along with a series of drawings. Shae’s sculptural work, which investigates play theories, femme aesthetics, secrets, obsession, and consumer culture, uses the immersive installation to posit the viewer at the intersection of these themes.
Curating and collaborating with the artist, 16NSt facilitated a month-long exploratory research and in-situ making period at Kiosk in Govanhill, which invited the community into Myles’ creative process, asking them to contribute to our secrets hotline.
The germination point and central sculpture for the exhibition is our commission of Myles’ life-size sculpture inspired by the Bluebird Polly Pocket compacts of the 1990s. True to the original form of the toy, the sculpture will subvert the charming, carefully organised domestic space they are known for; depicting instead a more fantastical, raw representation of childhood play memories, and how they may impact us in adulthood. Toying with the idea of sculpture as monument – Myles’ commission will immortalise a commonplace nostalgia. Expanding the sculpture throughout the exhibition and encouraging active engagement from the audience will investigate a fluid boundary drawn between public and private spheres – with the sculpture, and its discursive relationship to the exhibition space vs the toy’s domestic space – at the centre of this exploration.
Shae Myles (b.1998) is an artist and community facilitator based in Glasgow. She graduated from Contemporary Art Practice at Gray’s School of Art in 2020; since then, her work has been shown in London, Canada and Switzerland. Her multidisciplinary practice centres around ideas of intimacy, secrets, play, shared eating habits, and mess. Myles is also the co-founder of Jiggle n Juice, a collective that focuses on showcasing creativity, engaging in critical conversation, and bridging the gap between art school and professional practice.
Femme Castratrice is the performance persona of Chao-Ying Rao (Betty), an East Asian visual and performance artist based in Glasgow. Her practice involves negotiating complexities around objectification and narcissism, often using humour as a tool to disarm and charm the viewer. Chao-Ying is interested in pop culture representations of femininity, social media censorship, and the subtle and not-so-subtle legacies of Orientalism.
Mojxmma (Mo-Jam-ma) @mojxmma is a QTIPOC+ club night in Edinburgh & Glasgow, with a focus on dance, hip hop, RnB and world music. Co-founded in 2020 by high school friends, resident DJs Halal Kitty and Jam Eye, they aim to create a space of solace, specifically for queer BPOC and femme queers. It is a radical space of POC and Queer pride, with curated themes for each night to promote self-exploration, expression and love. Dressing up on theme is not mandatory, but strong encouraged.
16NSt Curatorial Collective is a Glasgow-based social enterprise and curatorial collective which consists of directors Nell Cardozo and Aga Paulina Młyńczak, and curator Kelly Rappleye. 16NSt Curatorial Collective is dedicated to fostering the enjoyment of experimental contemporary art while striving towards power redistribution in the arts sector by supporting female-identifying, queer and class-marginalised artists. 16NSt has recently embarked on a new itinerant, site-specific model of curatorial programming that foregrounds engagement with urban spatial politics and social histories in specific sites. Through partnership working, we aim to expand our community reach, improve accessibility and support more diverse audiences and artists, meeting them where they are. We commission long-term, research-led artistic projects that challenge the sector-wide gender and class disparities in contemporary art discourses, labour conditions, professional opportunities, and cultural narratives.
“Hush lil Baby” Opening
Thurs, 23rd Nov
103-105 French Street, G40 4EH (Strange Field)
Doors: 7pm
Performance: 8:30pm
Dance: 9pm – 12
Posted by: 16 Nicholson Street Gallery