Extraordinary Odyssey at the Electro Studios

Caroline Gregory, curator of Extraordinary Odyssey, talks to Jude Montague about the upcoming exhibition.

Extraordinary Odyssey is a journey into ideas of hybridity and in-between spaces. This event marks the first phase of a larger project that will culminate in the creation of a Super 8 film-poem. The film will reflect a deeply personal mother-son journey to India, exploring the significance of looking at ancestral narratives and finding a deeper sense of belonging. This work will be accompanied by live performances in both India and the UK, using collaborative art-making as a powerful way to express and communicate hybrid identities.

You recently installed a piece for the ‘Sex and Success in Sussex’ show at Electro Studios. Can you tell me about that? 

The installation explored themes of duality and transformation, cells and bones, light and dark, black and white, merging and separation. It also reflected on the idea that the chaotic mixing of elements, beyond the point of sense-making, is essential to life, regeneration, and the birth of the new.

 

What was the performance that accompanied your installation about. It seemed like a metaphor, an expression of emotional impulse and experience.

The performance was an intimate, improvised ritual to honour those who have died as a result of colonisation and the symbolic separation of light from dark. I physically separated black and white bones, then reunited them into a single, mixed pile. This act was accompanied by Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, a deeply moving piece reflecting themes of motherhood, grief, and loss. The first and third movements are a response to a parent mourning a child; the second by a child separated from a parent, echoing the emotional terrain I wanted to visit through the performance.

Why did you decide to do Extraordinary Odyssey?

After years of researching my Anglo-Indian-French-Celtic heritage, my exploration expanded into a broader inquiry around what it means to exist between recognised racial and cultural categories. This gradually evolved into a more abstract fascination with hybridity as a liminal, in-between space and a place of possibility, tension, and transformation.

Tell me about the whirling idea for the central performance piece:

The concept for 7 Whirling Women originated from a performance I created for my mother as part of an exhibition called Mum Before Me, which invited artists to explore their mothers’ lives before they were born. My mother, an Anglo-Indian woman, had her ethnicity suppressed by her paternal colonial family. She was separated from her mother and by extension, from her Indian roots. That unresolved disconnection made it difficult for her, and for me, to fully understand her identity.

In response, I chose to make a costume and dance for her. I drew inspiration from the sahri and Pakistani Sufi whirling traditions, rituals that aim to transcend human ego and reach a divine, borderless space. For Extraordinary Odyssey, we will reimagine this idea on the green in collaboration with a group of artists and dancers, to create a powerful visual and emotional experience.

Who will be taking part in the main show?

I’m interested in conversations between artworks and artists whose practices engage with themes of hybridity. Each participating artist brings a unique interpretation of these ideas. Confirmed contributors include:

• Natalia Zagórska-Thomas – @nataliazagorsakathomas

• Sinéid Codd – @sineidcodd

• Julia Maddison – @juliamaddison

• Jude Montague & Wolfgang Dubieniec – @judemontague / @wolfgangdubieniec

• Monika Tobel – @tobel.art

• Calum F Kerr & Miyuki Kasahara – @calumfkerrart / @miyukikasaharaart

• Tanvi Kant – @tanvikant

There will also be live elements throughout, including performances on the green (Friday and Sunday), and immersive film works by emerging artists Hattie Hambridge (@hattiehambridge) and Dylan Coates (@dylancoates_

Open Exhibition in the Landing Space

We’ll be launching an open call in early July for an accompanying open submission show. This exhibition will run alongside the main event in the Electro Studios Landing Space, and will be supported by Afri-co-lab (@afri.co.lab).

The show will invite anyone from the Hastings and St Leonard’s art-making community, trained or untrained to respond to the same themes of hybridity and liminality. We’ll hang the first 100 works submitted (with a small fee and size restriction).

Exhibition Dates:
July 25th–27th
Daily opening hours: 12–5pm

Private View:
July 25th, 6–8pm

Live Performances:
Friday (25th): between 7–9pm
Sunday (27th): between 2–4pm

Full details for the Open Submission  @extraordinaryodyssey25 

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