'Return of the Soul' installation by Jane Frere at Edinburgh Art Festival |
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| Thursday, 07 August 2008 03:00 |
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EDINBURGH - Return of the Soul by Jane Frere has found itself the centre stage of controversy even before the first of the 3,000 figures that form this installation is hung for its western debut at the Edinburgh Art Festival. In preparing the groundwork for her installation Jane developed a two-year programme involving Palestinian artists and many others who have spent their entire lives in refugee camps. She spent time living with refugee families in camps in the West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon. “Return of the Soul is not political, but it is about seeing from a very human perspective that the Palestinians have suffered and have been wronged, and this tragedy unfolded largely due to decisions we made here in Britain.” Jane worked as artist in residence with Al Hoash Gallery and with UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees. She lived and worked in the West Bank, and also in Jordan and Lebanon, preparing the background and materials for the two parallel installations which now have over 6,000 wax figures. Associate producers AL-JANA/ The Arab Resource Centre for Popular Arts and the Cultural Cooperative Association SHAMS in Beirut helped her to create the figures used in the installation for Edinburgh. After training at Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, Scottish artist Jane Frere completed her postgraduate studies at the Slade School of Art in London, where she was awarded the Leslie Hurry prize. She has worked as a theatrical set and costume designer in the UK and Greece. No stranger to Edinburgh, she first worked with the doyen of the Edinburgh arts scene, Richard Demarco, before becoming an international theatre producer, bringing a series of award-winning companies to the Fringe. Best remembered is the Polish company, Teatr Biuro Podrozy, whose internationally acclaimed performance Carmen Funebre went on to being performed in over 45 countries worldwide. On a number of occasions she worked in Iran and produced the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe show The Mute who was Dreamed by the Tehran-based Theatre Bazi, which is performing The Devil’s Ship at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~ |
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