Artist Elizabeth Kwant shares where she would most like to show her work, the first artwork she remembers seeing and her 3 artists to watch in this month's Mixing It Up.
Elizabeth Kwant's practice bears witness to some of the most pertinent social and geo-political issues of our times. Recurrent concerns include; global migration, immigration detention, colonialism, historical and modern slavery. Over the past twelve years she has partnered with local and national organisations, museums and galleries to give voice to issues facing the marginalised in Britain today. Kwant's films have been described as ‘hauntingly beautiful’ - holding beauty in tension with trauma, political urgency with quiet contemplation. I enjoy working with places and communities to co-create content and respond sensitively to their stories.
Examples include; Am I not a woman and a sister a four screen film installation co-created with female survivors of modern slavery produced for the International Slavery Museum (2019- 2020), Botanical Migrations a series of botanical billboard posters created for a public park in Dundee (2021), In-Transit performances for film tracing the western migration route in the Mediterranean informed by conversations with refugees (2017- 2018).
From 2015- 2019 Kwant founded and curated Zellij Arts, a multicultural exhibition space on Rusholme’s ‘Curry Mile’, showcasing the work of artists working trans-nationally from North Africa, The Middle East and diaspora. She currently lives in Rusholme Manchester, where she enjoys cooking with her Iraqi neighbour and introducing her daughters to a diverse mix of languages and cultures. She’s a studio member at Hot Bed Press and Suite Studios Salford.
Volta do Mar, Elizabeth Kwant, 2023, film Still | Image: courtesy of the artist
Volta do Mar, Elizabeth Kwant, 2023, film Still | Image: courtesy of the artist
Volta do Mar, Elizabeth Kwant, 2023, film Still | Image: courtesy of the artist
Volta do Mar, Elizabeth Kwant, 2023, film Still | Image: courtesy of the artist
