[1] Goodbye Bartman, it’s been a blast!
Madi Acharya-Baskerville is a London based South Asian artist. She graduated with an MA in Fine Art at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. She has exhibited widely within the UK and abroad. Her work is part of the permanent collection at the Whitworth and was on display in ‘Exchanges: Recent Additions to the Collection’ (2021–2022).
She has been awarded DYCP Grant from Arts Council England (2021–22) for developing her practice in the context of museum collections. She has been selected for the 20/20 residency commission, supported by University of the Arts London, Decolonizing Institute (2022) and has recently been artist in residence at The Lightbox, Woking. She has also been selected for the First Plinth Award, Royal Society of Sculptors and has received The Primary Residency Prize following selection for New Art Exchange Open (2023). Her work has been selected for ‘ Fragments of Our Time’, Whitaker Museum as part of British Textile Biennial and ‘Stuff of Life/ Life of Stuff’ Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich (2023).
Her solo exhibition ‘I Dream a Palace’ which showcases works created during the 20/20 residency has recently opened at the Lightbox, Woking. For this exhibition Madi Acharya-Baskerville has been awarded the National Lottery Project Grant from Arts Council England (2024).
[2] Cardinal Celadon
The rationale behind choosing these particular images is that they are illustrative of the process of research and making work during the 20/20 residency, leading up to the final commission. As she became intrigued by particular aspects of the collection, Madi began to create my own versions of particular objects. Bartman 1–3, [1], [2] & [3] are inspired by a late 16th stoneware jug imported from Germany showing ‘Bartmann’ a bearded man.
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[3] On the way to Woking Palace -
[4] Wiseman Bart
The Palace’s toy horse [3] is inspired by a toy horse remnant excavated from the grounds of the former Woking Palace.
In images [3] and [4] she has been experimenting by placing fishing net debris with the ceramic pieces as she would like to explore combining ceramics with textiles.
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[6] Palace Hinge -
[5] Palace Key
Metal fragments, including a large key are part of the reserve collection at Heather Farm, a few miles away from the Lightbox gallery. Madi experimented with black clay to create small ceramic pieces as shown in [5] and [6].
[7] Valencian Tile Bottle 4
Madi also felt drawn to the 15th century floor tiles from Valencia which are part of the Heritage collection at Woking Palace. These are plentiful in Woking palace but rare elsewhere in England. She initially made small water colour studies and then created sculptural forms based on these small studies. One of these is shown in [7].
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[8] Lustre Pattern 1 -
[9] Oyster Experiment
There are many oyster shells in the Heritage collection and also in the reserve collection. Shellfish were important in diet in Tudor times and were found in the kitchen area in the grounds of Woking Palace. Madi worked with various community groups as part of this residency. She created 3 ceramic sculptures based on oyster shells. Image [8] shows one of these works, inspired by a student’s drawing based on Islamic architecture. Image [9] shows a small piece where she has experimented with porcelain and black clay to create layers and patterns seen in shells.
Photography by Chris Honeywell
Partner Reflection
Lightbox Gallery, Woking
Sarah Brown, Director
March 2024
When I joined Lightbox as Director in January 2022, I was delighted that we were part of the 20/20 project, an initiative that absolutely resonated with my vision for The Lightbox.
Lightbox Gallery is at a pivotal point in its history. Its significant set of assets, from the Barfield-designed building to its social history (as told in the museum’s Woking’s Story displayi) and collection (the and The Joan Hurst Sculptural Collection), provided a strong foundation to undertake this work.
Working with Madi Acharya-Baskerville and the 20/20 project significantly supported our progress in implementing our new strategic aims for the next three years.ii The project underpins the framework for development of our collection and forms the foundation for a new capital application for the re-display of Woking’s Story, and to develop our knowledge and experience of integrating contemporary artists’ work into our ongoing programmes.
Madi Acharya-Baskerville worked with the heritage collection and community groups at the Shah Jehan Mosque, resulting in new audience relationships creating work inspired by the heritage collection and the artist’s own practice. Three new works by Acharya-Baskerville will join the collection and it is our intention to build on this model. I Dream a Palace has been an important starting point to inform our future thinking and to test how we might effectively connect with new audiences using Woking’s Story as inspiration, and giving it a contemporary relevance. We have expanded our peer connections regionally and nationally, and shared our learnings through the development of this project.
Our experience of being inaugural members of UAL’s Decolonising Collections: Curatorial Research Network (established 2021) has resulted in rethinking how we speak about, classify and learn from our collection, and this underpins our re-display proposal.
Woking’s Story is currently designed around elements uncovering the often-surprising history of Woking from its palace (the former Tudor palace) to the first purpose-built mosque in the UK (Shah Jehan Mosque). Woking’s Story provides a wealth of material to start new conversations and connections whether it be the rich Islamic culture of the historic mosque, mental health and well-being (Brookwood Hospital), or diving into its design and cultural heritage (Woking is the home of McLaren Automotive, and Kenneth Wood invented his food mixer in Woking).
This display was designed as part of Lightbox’s opening in 2007 and our current challenge is how to keep it relevant to Woking’s changing demographic.iii Our project with Madi Acharya-Baskerville has re-imagined and updated the presentation of Woking’s Story, initially through a series of new displays, co-curated with the contemporary voices of artists and audiences representative of today’s communities in Woking’s locality.
This valuable research and development will feed into our strategic and future thinking on the re-display of heritage collections and contemporary displays. As we have joined the Contemporary Art Society as Museum Members, this period of research and development will additionally inform our future acquisition policy for social history and contemporary art.
