Built by Immigrants
(A303) Built by Immigrants, 2019
Jeremy Deller
Mixed media
The A303 road runs across the south of England, on a route that runs directly past Stonehenge. Deller's irreverent message applies to both the past and the present. In the present day, it is a literal reminder that Britain relies on migrant labour in many sectors, and that the people behind this labour are often invisible or demonised in the media. Alongside this, Deller also created a partner artwork which reads 'Stonehenge Built by Immigrants', referring to the stone itself which likely to have been transported from Pembrokeshire in Wales. Such statements undermine ideas of 'Englishness' associated with the countryside and sites such as Stonehenge, reflecting the complexity of the real story.*
From the exhibition
Radical Landscapes: Art inspired by the land
(October 2023 - February 2024)
Radical Landscapes is a major exhibition showing over a century of art inspired by the land.
Radical Landscapes is an exhibition that explores the natural world as a space for artistic inspiration, social connection, and political and cultural protest through the lens of William Morris, one of Britain’s earliest and most influential environmental thinkers. Organised in collaboration with Tate Liverpool, the exhibition displays work spanning two centuries and features more than 60 works by artists including JMW Turner, Claude Cahun, Hurvin Anderson, Derek Jarman, Jeremy Deller and Veronica Ryan.
This exhibition offers an expanded view of British landscape art focusing on the early twentieth century until today. Traditional landscape painting is associated with idyllic rural scenes, which can express an artist's appreciation of nature and have helped form perceptions of the national identity. The pictorial conventions of landscape art can also express the status of land ownership, themes of exclusion, or control over nature. Outside of painting, artists have turned to techniques including film, photography, performance and installation art, showing how art can be made in and of the land, rather than by viewing it as a constructed 'scape'.
Radical Landscapes explores the relationship between land, history, and identity. It includes themes of trespass, using art to explore the thresholds between public and private land, showing how these relate to our senses of identity and belonging. The enclosing of rural land and its perceived misuse has triggered protests throughout history, linking to broader arguments around civil freedoms alongside the long shadow of colonialism.
Art can provide a vehicle for learning from and coexisting with nature and with each other. Against the context of the global climate emergency, the natural world is increasingly seen as something to protect and preserve, and many artists have produced work in parallel to the development of the modern environmental movement. All of this has provided fertile ground for artists and activists. Radical Landscapes presents the rural as a site of artistic inspiration as well as a heartland for ideas of freedom, mysticism, experimentation and rebellion.
[*William Morris Gallery]
Taken in the William Morris Gallery
Built by Immigrants
(A303) Built by Immigrants, 2019
Jeremy Deller
Mixed media
The A303 road runs across the south of England, on a route that runs directly past Stonehenge. Deller's irreverent message applies to both the past and the present. In the present day, it is a literal reminder that Britain relies on migrant labour in many sectors, and that the people behind this labour are often invisible or demonised in the media. Alongside this, Deller also created a partner artwork which reads 'Stonehenge Built by Immigrants', referring to the stone itself which likely to have been transported from Pembrokeshire in Wales. Such statements undermine ideas of 'Englishness' associated with the countryside and sites such as Stonehenge, reflecting the complexity of the real story.*
From the exhibition
Radical Landscapes: Art inspired by the land
(October 2023 - February 2024)
Radical Landscapes is a major exhibition showing over a century of art inspired by the land.
Radical Landscapes is an exhibition that explores the natural world as a space for artistic inspiration, social connection, and political and cultural protest through the lens of William Morris, one of Britain’s earliest and most influential environmental thinkers. Organised in collaboration with Tate Liverpool, the exhibition displays work spanning two centuries and features more than 60 works by artists including JMW Turner, Claude Cahun, Hurvin Anderson, Derek Jarman, Jeremy Deller and Veronica Ryan.
This exhibition offers an expanded view of British landscape art focusing on the early twentieth century until today. Traditional landscape painting is associated with idyllic rural scenes, which can express an artist's appreciation of nature and have helped form perceptions of the national identity. The pictorial conventions of landscape art can also express the status of land ownership, themes of exclusion, or control over nature. Outside of painting, artists have turned to techniques including film, photography, performance and installation art, showing how art can be made in and of the land, rather than by viewing it as a constructed 'scape'.
Radical Landscapes explores the relationship between land, history, and identity. It includes themes of trespass, using art to explore the thresholds between public and private land, showing how these relate to our senses of identity and belonging. The enclosing of rural land and its perceived misuse has triggered protests throughout history, linking to broader arguments around civil freedoms alongside the long shadow of colonialism.
Art can provide a vehicle for learning from and coexisting with nature and with each other. Against the context of the global climate emergency, the natural world is increasingly seen as something to protect and preserve, and many artists have produced work in parallel to the development of the modern environmental movement. All of this has provided fertile ground for artists and activists. Radical Landscapes presents the rural as a site of artistic inspiration as well as a heartland for ideas of freedom, mysticism, experimentation and rebellion.
[*William Morris Gallery]
Taken in the William Morris Gallery