Fly Like a Butterfly – an Exhibition by Olana Light
April 2 11:00 - April 15 17:00
Free
Workshops: Sunday April 2nd 2023 | 11am & 12.30pm
Performance: Sunday April 2nd 2023 | 2-3pm
Exhibition Launch Event: April 10th | 5pm
Exhibition: April 11th – 15th 2023 | 10am-5pm
About The Exhibition
Wearable sculpture, performance, installation and film are the focus of Fly Like a Butterfly, a project by award-winning artist Olana Light.
Nature is a source of inspiration for this multidisciplinary artist, who seeks to change her audience’s perception of how the world uses its resources and to think more deeply about how lifestyle choices affect the planet.
She says: “I want to inspire us to build the unimagined future world, to live in harmony with nature and to make the world a better place for those around us and who come after us.
Olana’s exploration of the theme of metamorphosis and change, through a series of a large-scale wearable caterpillar and a butterfly, largely constructed from natural materials, also relates to issues of psychological transformation and identity.
She regards the butterfly a a powerful metaphor for transformation, as it begins life in one form – as a caterpillar – and emerges after a period of dormancy from its cocoon as a magical butterfly.
The Fly Like a Butterfly project has been running since November 2022 and is supported by public funding from the National Lottery, through Arts Council England and the Gane Grant. The project includes caterpillar and reindeer moss wearable sculpture live performances in public and gallery spaces, and series of exhibitions.
This exhibition is free to attend.
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About the Workshops
Olana will be running two free 60-minute children’s mask workshops on Sunday 2nd April.
In these workshops, attendees will be creating paper masks decorated with natural materials.
The children, wearing their newly created masks, will then be invitted to take part in the short parade taking place that afternoon.
These free workshops must be booked in advance, below. The workshops are suitable for children aged 5+ and must be accompanied by an adult.
About the Performance
At 2pm on 2nd April, Olana’s enormous caterpillar will commence its short journey towards transformation, in a parade accompanied by members of the public and the workshop participants. At its final destination at Park Parade Precinct, the caterpillar will be encased in a chrysalis to become a butterfly. This event will be filmed and form part of the exhibition.
About the Launch Event
Olana’s striking wearable scultpures will be unveiled at a launch evening from 5pm until 6.30pm.
This will be an opportunity to see up close the work and discuss the project with Olana herself.
This launch event is free to attend, but please let us know you intend to come by RSVPing below.
About the Artist
Olana Light is a multidisciplinary artist based in Hampshire. She has an MA from Goldsmiths (2020) and a BA from Southampton Solent University (2017), and has exhibited nationally and internationally.
Recent solo exhibitions include Let It Breath, Hidden Wardrobe at A Space Arts; out l side l in at TheSmallest Gallery, Soho; We Are Not Ourselves at The Stone Space and Jeannie Avent Gallery London.
Olana has also completed residencies at Eco Suites, Greece (2022); School of Design and Fashion, Southampton (2019); Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth (2017 & 2018); and Sticks Gallery, Fareham (2017).
Her recent publications include Ludvig Rage, Inside Art and Trebuchet.
Awards:
- 2021 & 2022: Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant
- 2022: SpudOPEN Judge’s Choice Award and People Choice Award
- 2022: Blue Sky Ideas Arts & Heritage Award
- 2022: The Spring (Havant) Open Competition Award
- 2022: The Little Forest Open Competition
- 2021: A Space Arts’ Lucky Dip Bursary
- 2021: Zeaolous Stories Sculpture Award
- 2021: Sunny Art Prize Award
- 2017: Goldsmiths International Response Scholarship Award
Fly Like a Butterfly Launch Event
Monday April 10th at 5pm
5
Going
35 remaining
RSVP Here
Fly Like a Butterfly Performance/Parade
Sunday 2nd April 2-3pm
10
Going
1 day left to RSVP
RSVP Here
