May Meet In Mutual was a site responsive exhibition based at the Park Centre, Baxter Park, Dundee between 16-18 August, 2012. Nine artists made works which looked at the park as it is now (how it functions within the community, environmentally, the potential it has...) and that reflected upon its historical links to the linen trade, (having been donated to the people of Dundee in 1863 by Sir David Baxter and his sisters Mary-Ann and Eleanor whose money came from the Baxter Brothers linen manufacturing firm). Each artist worked from within their own practice but linked through the site their works could be seen to meet in mutual, just as Sir David Baxter had intended that the people of Dundee use the park as "a common ground where all may meet in mutual acknowledgement of their dependence the one upon the other."
Morgan Cahn's work 'Me(a)nder' saw her stitching and mending around the park and within the Park Centre for the duration of the exhibition. Here she is patching up my incredibly worn out 'install jeans' with some hand printed fabric - and they look fab, thanks!
Holly Keasey's 'Sew 'n' Grow' project has started to consider proposing a rain garden within the Baxter Park. Visitors took part in conversations about gardening, community and the park while stitching flowers that are suitable for a sustainable rain garden.
This is the inside view of my contribution to May Meet In Mutual. Two of our visitors, who interrupted their walk in the park to take a look, are shown investigating photographs from a pocket in the pin board. The photographs show the boarded up windows of the beautiful, but currently unused, Dens Mills, which was formerly a Baxter Brothers' mill.
Holly Knox Yeoman's 'Mutual Divide' after visitors took part in scanning and arranging items they found in the park. Yeoman describes, "This clean, neutrality the park provides works as a metaphor for society; the park is masking reality, its edges, through the fences are the truth with the Baxter Park Centre's glass walls gifting a space for local people, an impartial place for the outside reality of the park to congregate."
Hannah Moitt's thoughtful drawn, painted and printed illustrations investigate aspects of becoming an adult female: independence, fear, expectation, and preparation, etc.
Rebecca Jones took inspiration from woven textiles for this structural hanging piece that gently drops from the large beams in the space.
Beth Savage's banner, 'Shit Happens' can be seen in the back left. A tree covered with dog-bag-leaves questions how we deal with this animal waste, and how we interact with animals in the city.
This dog spotted Beth Savage's 'Olfactory Cortex', an outside work consisting of dog treats.
Sarah Johnston's 'Untitled, (Jute and Flax)' took the material qualities of jute and flax into the space in a beautiful way. Elevated from the floor the work implied strength and structure, although the materials are gently stacked and twisted together with no fixings.
Emma Reid's 'live feed (Park Centre)' is a work for the inquisitive visitor. Peeping into a small hole in the top of the mirrored plinth reveals a screen upon which you are surprised with your own image. Two cameras were hidden within/and outwith the space angled towards the plinth to transmit live footage of your own interaction with the work, other works and people in the space.
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