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Rachel Marsh, Writer and Gallery Assistant at DLWP, has written a poem in response to Tschabalala Self: Seated, which is on show at the Pavilion until 29 October.

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She Rises With The Sun

 

She rises with the sun;

her bold colours, her dress.

Painted lips, polished nails.

She is more, not less.

Courageous, beautiful.

Dressed to impress.

 

I smile, empowered by her.

Seated, she owns her space.

She is proud of her body.

Strength shows in her face.

She is timeless and elegant,

a queenly figure of grace.

 

She shows me that it is okay

to be different, to be strong.

I do not need to fit in to a box

in which I do not belong.

She does not have to answer

or apologise to anyone.

 

She casts her own light

and sets her own scene.

Her head is held high.

Defiant, yet serene.

She is not afraid to fail

and does not go unseen.

 

She rises with the sun

and weathers the storms.

She knows that she is enough

and ignores any scorns.

Like me, she lives and breathes.

She is a woman. All women.

We do not conform.

 

“Bexhill residents are finally allowed to stay out late!” – BBC Radio Sussex

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Last night a group of people, led by Cllr Christine Bayliss, Labour deputy leader of Rother District Council, hopped on the 98 bus to celebrate the new timetable from Stagecoach.

As she told BBC Radio Sussex this morning, the last bus to Sidley used to be just before 8pm and now it is just past 11pm, enabling Sidley residents to come to gigs at the Pavilion AND get the bus home.  Cllr Bayliss gave a particular mention to our Sunset Screenings where families with young children can travel to and from the Pavilion for under £5 per journey (£2 per adult, young kids go free during the summer holidays) and enable us to reach communities that we have not been able to access before.

The new timetable also improves late night services between Bexhill and Hastings.

Stewart Drew, Director and CEO of the Pavilion says:

This is really good news, not only for us but a huge win for the whole night time economy of Bexhill.  We encourage as many people as possible to travel car-free to the centre of Bexhill, which is not only good for the environment but will be a boost for the restaurants and bars in our town centre. We also are particularly thrilled about the late night connections to Sidley, which supports our long term ambition to make the two areas better connected.

Thank you to East Sussex County Council who supported Stagecoach in this new endeavour.

Record numbers of visitors explored hundreds of job vacancies and skills development opportunities at Bexhill Jobs & Apprenticeships Fair 2023.

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Vibrant community event 

The fair always aims to attract and meet the needs of a wide range of visitors and exhibitors and this year was no exception.
Rother residents made up over half, 54%, of attendees with the fair also attracting visitors from Hastings (31%) and other areas of East Sussex including Eastbourne (13%).

While just under half, 47%, of fair attendees were under 24 years old, more than a quarter were over the age of 45. In terms of employment status, the largest groups visiting were the unemployed (26%) and those in full-time education (19%) – an indication of the vital role the fair plays in helping people get back into employment and supporting young people into careers.

Motivations for visiting the fair varied. While many visitors, notably younger people, were interested in their first step on the career ladder (first job or apprenticeship 21%), others were interested in a new job (12%) or changing career (15%). It was also fantastic to see 15% of visitors interested in returning to work or back to work support – good news for those exhibitors facing recruitment challenges looking to explore new candidate pools.

Over 90% of visitors who supplied feedback rated the overall event, registration, fair layout, range of exhibitors and interactions with exhibitors positively. Comments included:

‘Great variety of stalls, really worthwhile attending’  
‘The exhibitors I interacted with I found to be very engaging and inspiring’  
‘Opened my eyes to a variety of job applications’ 
‘Educational and very informative’

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Alongside small and medium sized organisations, over a third of the exhibitors at this year’s fair had more than 250 employees.  Virtually every sector was represented with Construction, Transport, Health & Social Care, Financial Services, Engineering, Hospitality and the Creative Industries being particularly strong with at least 5 exhibitors offering jobs and skills development opportunities in each.

Of the exhibitors who gave feedback, 100% rated the event, venue, organisation and volume and quality of interactions positively. All found the event of value and all were interested in attending future fairs. Feedback included:

‘Great to see such a thriving, enthusiastic and supportive business community and so many great potential staff and volunteers. Well done for bringing everyone together’ 
‘Went really well, lots of interest, definitely a really good mixture of people, a lot more varied than some of the events we have done’ 
‘Very well organised and structured as well as great footfall of attendees’ 
‘Lovely event and puts Bexhill on the map along with the surrounding areas’ 

A huge thank you to those visitors and exhibitors who gave feedback and provided suggestions for how to make the 2024 event even more successful.

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Save the date 2024

Bexhill Jobs & Apprenticeships Fair will be back at the Pavilion on Friday 15 March 2024.
More details to follow here after the summer.

Flatland Projects is proud to present The ground is kind, black butter, a solo exhibition by artist Djuna O’Neill (b. 1998, Ireland), from 1 July–6 August 2023. This will be O’Neill’s first solo exhibition, showcasing newly commissioned moving image and sculptural works. Within her practice, O’Neill playfully stretches the ever-evolving iterations of fiction and worldbuilding. From folklore and oral traditions to gaming, her work explores how storytelling can help us reconsider environments and our relationships to them. She questions how stories of other worlds imbibe the way we inhabit our own, and how do these narratives linger within digital realms?
In recent years, O’Neill has focused her research around boglands, digesting these habitats as sites of alterity, borderlands and sites of refuge in histories of colonial dispossession, “wastelands”. Understanding these interstitial zones as containers of local knowledge, O’Neill investigates the peat as a communal archive. These habitats have become significant cultural sites imbued with heritage practices, though their continuing existence is threatened.

Taking its title from Seamus Heaney’s 1969 poem Bogland, this exhibition tussles out the slippery temporality of peat bogs, diving into their mesmeric qualities and mobilising their resistant potential. The show will present two sculptural works in metal and a short film in three acts, shot in and around Galway. Each act, made using a combination of 16mm film and digitally rendered spaces, explores a site evoking the otherworldly in relation to Irish mythological motifs. Through The Bog, The Ruin and The Cave, the film explores how myths inform our perception of landscapes, tracing how these age-old tales permeate contemporary digital environments. Each location is haunted by characters that inhabit them. Shadows of banshees, wise women and hags roam the boundaries between the corporeal and the intangible, the earthly and the celestial. The works in metal will reflect on the material archive of boglands, crystalising artefacts preserved in their anaerobic mud.

This exhibition and its events programme is being curated by Fran Painter-Fleming as the culmination of her Curatorial Fellowship between The De La Warr Pavilion and Flatland Projects.

Details of upcoming events will be available via Flatland’s website and social media channels.
All images courtesy of the artist, stills from upcoming film.

On Sunday May 21, the community of Bexhill and beyond came together in an act of restoration and  resistance to the vandalism of Tschabalala Self’s sculpture Seated . The sculpture of a Black woman looking out to sea was spray-painted white, covering the entirety of her skin.

It was incredibly powerful to see over 300 people come together to make a start in cleaning the sculpture with scrubbing brushes and white spirit.

Through this process of care and healing we were able to make it clear that these acts will not be tolerated in our community and we will continue doing the necessary work to combat racism in all its forms.

We would like to thank everyone who came to restore and support as well as the hundreds of messages we received online. Tschabalala Self says:

Painting the skin of my sculpture white is an obscene act and I feel horribly for individuals in Bexhill-on-Sea for whom this event may have shocked or frightened. To my supporters there, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and a promise that I will continue to make work that provokes meaningful change and progress in our shared society.

See the full statement from the artist here  

Seated will continue to be restored professionally and will re-open on Saturday 3 June, where we invite everyone to enjoy a picnic with the artist on the lawns around the sculpture and celebrate the power of art to galvanise and connect people and communities. Details to follow.

 

Notes on Vandalism
Tschabalala Self, 21 May 2023

I am very disheartened that my sculpture Seated (2022) was targeted and attacked by vandals. Despite my disappointment I am not surprised as Black and Female – and especially because Black Female bodies are often targets for abuse. Seated proudly represents the beauty of both blackness and femininity, and for these very reasons she has been harmed: covered by her assailant with white spray paint in a futile attempt to erase her colour and, in my mind, her strength. Despite these efforts, she remains in place and will continue to do so until her time at De La Warr Pavilion is complete.

Many have derived joy from Seated, and through community support she will be restored to her former likeness. I hope that the violence enacted on the sculpture illuminates the persistent issues plaguing the Global West. Painting the skin of my sculpture white is an obscene act and I feel horribly for individuals in Bexhill-on-Sea for whom this event may have shocked or frightened. To my supporters there, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and a promise that I will continue to make work that provokes meaningful change and progress in our shared society.

On Monday 15 May, Tschabalala Self’s public sculpture, Seated, was vandalised.

The sculpture, which has been temporarily installed outside the De La Warr Pavilion, is of a seated Black woman positioned looking out to sea. The perpetrator covered the entirety of the woman’s skin with white spray-paint.

In conversation with the artist, we have been considering what steps to take in order to protect the artwork and the wider impact of this act on our staff and communities. We have received considerable support in response to this vandalism and the sculpture will be uncovered so that the restoration is visible to everyone.

UPDATE:

The De La Warr Pavilion invites you to
AN EVENT OF RESTORATION AND SUPPORT
In response to the vandalism of Tschabalala Self’s Seated

Sunday 21 May
11am – 1pm
De La Warr Pavilion Lawns, Bexhill

On Monday 15 May, vandals attacked Tschabalala Self’s public sculpture of a seated Black woman positioned looking out to sea. The entirety of her skin was spray-painted white.

Following conversations with the artist, the Pavilion invites you to join us on Sunday 21 May, 11am – 1pm to help remove the paint and bring the community together in an act of peaceful resistance.

This event has been organised by the De La Warr Pavilion and supported by Tschabalala Self, the artist.

You will be provided with gloves and tools. Please wear suitable clothing to protect your skin whilst using white spirit. We recommend long trousers and long sleeves for protection. 

Members of the community have asked how they can donate towards the cost of the restoration. You can donate in several ways:

By Text
Text DLWP to 70507 to give £5.
Standard network rates apply/ De La Warr Pavilion will receive 100% of your donation.
Registered charity number 1065586.

Online
You can donate online here

In the Pavilion
Use the Tap To Donate device in the gallery or on the Box Office counter

 

 

 

Rachel Marsh, Writer and Gallery Assistant at DLWP, has written three poems in response to Angelo Madsen Minax: A Crisis of Human Contact, which is on show at the Pavilion until 21 May. Read them here:

 

both the wound and the remedy

exist together side by side

in unique types of chemistry

fetishes, secrets, complexities.

nobody needs to know

what we say

or what we do

(i know you have your secrets too)

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dematerialise

from yourself

your life

your pain

 

materialise

when you can love

and learn to be

yourself again

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consequence as topography

white silvery lines

others a jagged red

a result, perhaps

of things unsaid.

some scars are displayed,

others hide them well

underneath long sleeves

in hot summer spells.

i guess it depends

on how they were formed,

for pleasure? for pain?

or to cancel out the horrors

that they never want

to think about

or experience

again

 

 

Organisers of the Bexhill Jobs & Apprenticeships Fair, in association with Southeastern, Bexhill College and Southern Housing, have heralded the 2023 event the biggest and best yet. Over 600 people visited the fair at the De La Warr Pavilion on Friday 10 March to explore live job vacancies, apprenticeships, training, courses, skills development opportunities and back to work support.

Held for the 7th year, the not-for-profit community initiative is an important pillar in the area’s employment calendar, providing job-seekers with live opportunities in a wide range of sectors and giving recruiters instant access to a large pool of candidates. Exhibitor feedback to date has included ‘a fantastic turn out with a huge amount of interest from prospective candidates’, ’excellent number of people through the door who were interested in finding out about the opportunities on offer’, ‘the event went really well’, ‘great community event’ and ‘extremely well organised’.

Bexhill MP, Huw Merriman, said: “The Bexhill Jobs and Apprenticeships Fair is always brilliant, but this year we saw a bumper range of jobs and opportunities on offer and our largest visitor turnout yet. I was particularly pleased to see such a wide mix of attendees – from young people looking for their first job or apprenticeship, through to older people interested in career change and return to work opportunities. By pairing those actively looking for jobs with employers who are actively recruiting, the fair consistently delivers tangible results. All the exhibitors I spoke to during the day were hugely positive about the event and its value to the local economy. I’m proud to be part of the organising team for the fair which delivers real and exciting employment and training opportunities for local people.’

Stewart Drew, Director & CEO, De La Warr Pavilion, said: ‘This year’s Jobs Fair was absolutely buzzing with people queueing in the foyer before the doors opened and the stream of visitors continuing throughout the day. At the Pavilion, we pride ourselves on delivering a world-class programme of art, music and culture while remaining at the heart of our local community and being a catalyst for the area’s social and economic growth. Hosting the Jobs Fair is an important part of this Community, Creativity and Skills approach and we are delighted this year’s event was such a great success.’