An exhibition of collaborative work by Sarah Strachan and Ayeshah Zolghadr supported by The Art Scholars Curwen Printmaking Bursary 2022

Art collaboration breaks boundaries not objects

On Thursday 17th November ‘Boundary Objects’, a new contemporary art exhibition, opens to the public at the Curwen Print Study Centre in Great Thurlow. The exhibition presents the work of two Cambridge School of Art students, Sarah Strachan and Ayeshah Zolghadr, who were recently awarded the Arts Scholars Curwen Printmaking Bursary. The artists have used their bursary to collaborate on this project resulting in an exhibition of collaborative works in print and ceramics and in conversation with the Curwen’s unique print archive.

While Sarah’s work often converses with the vessel and concepts of the strangely familiar or familiarly strange, for Ayeshah it is the concept of the grid by abstraction. Drawing on theory from sociology, and science and technology studies, the duo recognise the vessel and the grid as boundary objects where 'information [is] used in different ways by different communities for collaborative work through scales" [1]. A defining feature of boundary objects is their ability to ‘tack back and forth’ between being specific and abstract, which for the artists invokes the action of the printing press. Their proposition being that by translating their respective boundary objects through a conversation informed by the back and forth rhythm of a print press, they might resolve some of the anxiety of working across disciplines.

It’s been non-stop for the artists since completing their MA in Printmaking and MA in Fine Art at Anglia Ruskin University, since collaborating on an ongoing project 'The Anxiety of Interdisciplinarity', which saw the duo conceive, organise and curate an open call exhibition at the International Printmaking Conference IMPACT 12 [2] in September 2022. They continue their conversation at the interface of print in the context of Curwen’s facilities and archive. 
Sarah says: “Through this initiative we seek to reframe printmaking as a site of interdisciplinarity - a testing ground for ‘the important work…done at the surfaces between adjacent disciplines’." Ayeshah continues: "We acknowledge interdisciplinarity as a potential site of ambivalence, tension or a fertile ground for exploration and experimentation, which has prompted us to explore collaborative print-based works."

Curwen Print Study Centre Manager, Emma James says: “As a Fine Art Printmaking Educational Charity our mission is to preserve, foster and develop experience and skills that underpin the artist’s original print, in all forms. CPSC and ARU have forged links to support continued inclusion of printmaking within the Cambridge School of Art.CPSC created this funded Printmaking Bursary for CSA BA & MA students with a funding award from The Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars.”

Cambridge School of Art Course Leader, Veronique Chance says: “Ayeshah and Sarah were awarded the Arts Scholars Curwen Printmaking Bursary in June of this year. It was a unanimous decision based on the quality of their proposal and idea, which the Panel felt was highly original.”

'Boundary Objects' opens to the public on Thursday 17th November 2022 with a preview on Saturday 19th November from 12 noon to 3 pm. The exhibition is open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm until Thursday 15th December 2022. 

Notes to Editors
Ayeshah Zolghadr and Sarah Strachan are artists working at the interface of printmaking. Sarah transitions into print from sculpture and ceramics, while Ayeshah translates an architectural background into print and back again. 

Ayeshah’s practice is concerned with exploring relationships and communication through the repetitive action of printmaking. Her research methodology is heavily influenced by an architectural background, mathematical investigations and an interest in augmenting digital technologies. Working across parallel processes, Ayeshah is interested in unforeseen shifts that occur from translating her experimental print-based works into 3D forms and back again through the mediums of risograph printing, blind embossing, video projection and sculpture.

In Sarah’s transdisciplinary practice she senses environmental changes through deep conversations with people, place, the land and the materials and objects associated with these. Her interest lies in how perception affects our ecological awareness and thinking and she explores her ideas and research through printmaking, painting, and ceramics; often fusing sound and/or moving image into the final installations.

Event contact: veronique.chance@aru.ac.uk