Working with Hull City Council and the Shop Front initiative, Arc commissioned four artists to each have a 10-week installation in the windows of the empty shops on Whitefriargate, and using the street as a gallery to exhibit their work. I wanted my work to respond with the reason the empty spaces were there.
The work is about the economic downturn, that through excessive spending we have gotten ourselves into this financial mess and I wanted to make some works that reflected this while being positive and looking at ways we can deal with it. In these four works relate to the situation that Hull and the UK are in at the moment.
Made into the format of road signs they act as warning signs over what is happening now, what we need to do and how it will be. Most people are feeling the effect from the spending cuts, especially through the Arts and Public Sector.
These signs give out a positive message rather than the ‘doom and gloom’ that we hear dominating the media. So the idea of the messages is to “dig deep”, “keep positive” and meander your way through. And if all fails, then due to the Mayan calendar, they predict that the Earth will end on December 21, 2012.
