| Project title | A time and place |
| Venue | OVADA, Oxford, OX1 1NJ |
| Date | 22/02/2025 |
Artist statement
David is a visual artist and art psychotherapist based in Oxfordshire, UK. His art practice currently focuses on themes of site-specific walking, research into family archives and narratives, embodied affect, memory and meaning. Artistic modes central to his practice include collecting found objects on site specific walks to form assemblages, reflective writing and spontaneous poetry, abstract and figurative drawing and painting. David’s art practice is informed by his work and training as an art psychotherapist and often reflects themes familiar to Jungian theories of archetypes and the unconscious.
Contextual statement
A Time and Place was inspired by an archive of family photos dating back to the 1800’s. David made documented visits to the North-eastern coast where his family originated, before returning to the studio to create works reflecting the nuanced, layered experiences, interweaving myth, memory and meaning. A ‘spontaneous poem’ Green North Yorkshire references places, landscapes, lives and events – his great uncle, Ralph Hodgson, author of ‘The Last Blackbird’, landmarks like Old Nab and Roseberry Topping, the jet and ironstone found on the northern Jurassic coast.
As David explored the forms and relationships of found objects, reflections on the intersections of time, place and affect brought him to view his experience through the lens of the psychologist, Donald Winnicott’s theory of ‘potential space’, as a model for the ongoing creative process, explored through some of the works in the exhibition.
The project culminated in a solo, one-day exhibition at the warehouse space at OVADA, in central Oxford, accompanied by a five-hour, mindfulness-based workshop for 16 adults, exploring three artistic practices that David refined throughout his research: an artists walk, affective mapping and spontaneous poetry.
Thank you to OVADA, Oxford, for hosting the show and workshop and all their admin & publicity support. And to Dameion Ridgeway – VM [visual merchandiser], for invaluable help in curating and invigilating the show.
A time and place
Gallery views
Video installation
I’m interested in the interactions between the conscious and unconscious… between the visible and invisible, and the space emerging between memory, place, time and feeling.
david elliott
Artworks
I’ve collected found objects on walks since my early childhood. They become reminders of where and when I found them, my feelings and thoughts on seeing and holding them. Gradually, they become totems invoking memories, feelings and moments in time.
David Elliott
