‘Joan of Park’ 4′ x 8′ acrylic and mixed media. This painting has inspired Pupin de Vert and Anna Atkinson – come to the closing event on Friday 30 June to experience their performances.

Louise Whitham – looking back, moving on

St Andrews Mews, Waldegrave Street is opening its Main Gallery (the space where the WHO exhibition was) completely free of charge to artists who will bring some footfall to the new businesses. Currently, Louise Whitham, photographer, painter and performance artist has taken over the rooms to display a retrospective looking back on her recent years living in St Leonards-on-Sea. Jude Montague explores her multi-space art exhibition and installation.

When Louise and her partner moved to St Leonards five years ago, they purchased a distinguished seafront house built in 1831. Leaving the property as a result of the pandemic was an emotional business for Louise and her partner, as it is the kind of atmospheric place that really gets inside you. Fortunately for the local arts community the couple have remained in town.

Louise has brought many different aspects of her life together and united them for the show. Most outstanding of all are the photography experiments which reflect her enquiring, ever-changing mind and bright, ambitious personality. The pictures also illuminate the very special light of this seaside town. She has fixed the shadows and flashes in work which reflects a life in a house which looks out on the Channel.

You have wittily called your exhibition ‘Hastings Temporary’. How does your show reflect that title? 
I wanted to call the show something a bit cheeky and subversive. The name also reflects the temporary nature of many of the photographic images made using less toxic eco processes.

Your exhibition is in two parts – can you tell me about the difference between these two major sections?
The first section of the show is entitled ‘No’. These are abstracted portraits stemming from the open shutter Suffragette City collection. I was and still am obsessed with an technique based on the fact that Suffragettes had to shake their heads to avoid being identified on camera.

The second section of the show is about my ongoing affection for catching the surreal effects of light, shadow and reflections on the St Leonards sea front. Both sections have a painterly photographic hand-finished style and relate to various forms of protest and social history / experimentation from the past, present and future. 

Artist Louise Whitham looks over five years of artistic practice in St Leonards

Tell me about your experience of organising this show and what the stand-out elements and moments have been so far?
Hastings Temporary is set in a remarkable historical stables building with many rooms and Victorian fireplaces. It’s a great space and totally suits the ethereal feel and social history elements in my work.  It was incredible to see five years worth of work come together in one place.

The most frequent  comment on the show has been the variety of different media I use. I think the stand-out comment from a painter I admire very much, was that I  ‘have a persistence in investigating the change in the understanding of a subject under different modes of presentation’. I think that hit the nail on the head!

Check Louise’s instagram for more of her work.

Times of tours and talks with Louise:
2–4pm Tuesday 20 June
2–4pm Wednesday 21 June
2–4pm Thursday 22 June
12–8pm Friday 23 June
12–8pm Sat 24 June    
2–4pm Tue 27 June
2–4pm Weds 28 June
2–4pm Thurs 29 June   
12–9pm Fri 30 June – closing party from 6pm with performances from Anna Atkinson and Pupin De Vert, Live Art band and Punkragette story telling
6–9pm Saturday 1 July
12–3pm Sun 2 July – last chance saloon afternoon

‘Lucy on Aspidistra’ by Louise Witham

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