Artists Yara + Davina open public installation ‘Arrivals + Departures’ in Nine Elms. Bespoke bouquet designed by and dedicated to the family of the longest standing stall owners at the New Covent Garden Market. Photographer credit Alex Brenner
#ArrivalsAndDepartures @ArrivalsAndDeps
People who live, go to school and work in Battersea and Nine Elms are invited to connect with neighbours and take part in a free, interactive installation this summer, over a communal moment of reflection. ‘Arrivals + Departures’ by artists YARA + DAVINA explores birth, death and the journey in between. The outdoor artwork will be located in Embassy Gardens from 5 – 16 July, offering a collective memorial and celebration of life, and is presented by Battersea Arts Centre, produced by Artsadmin and supported by Wandsworth Council.
As the transformation of Battersea and Nine Elms continues, this is a timely opportunity for residents from local communities and those who have recently moved to the area to acknowledge and share stories of those who may have arrived and departed in our lives.
Taking the recognisable form of a train station or airport arrivals and departures board, the artwork invites residents, primary schools and businesses in the area, as well as passers-by, to engage with the themes of life and death, to welcome and to remember. You can choose to contribute names as a way to acknowledge, celebrate and commemorate someone who has had a significant impact on your life. Names may range from the personal to the political, from our unsung personal heroes to local historical figures, as they are shared on the large-scale artwork via a live interaction with an on-site steward, via smartphone or online at: www.arrivalsanddepartures.net
Capturing the joy and sadness of any arrival or departure lounge, these nostalgic analogue display boards celebrate naming as a radical act as each person is given a presence on the mechanical flip dot screens. By recording birth and death, the work marks the ebb and flow of life offering moments to welcome new life, honour the living and bring attention to death, acknowledging collective and personal grief and loss.
The work arrives in Nine Elms after visiting prestigious venues including Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM, New York), Brighton International Festival, Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Switzerland) and Somerset House (London).
YARA + DAVINA are artists whose playful and profound work uses accessible formats to engage the public with a broad spectrum of issues. Their powerful artworks are rooted within the everyday, subverting popular culture to explore issues that touch on the human condition.
YARA + DAVINA said:
“The accessibility of our public artwork ‘Arrivals + Departures’ lies in how the growing community in Nine Elms can use these boards in different ways; to announce those who have been born, live or died here or to contemplate on what it means to arrive and depart into and out of this changing landscape.
Alongside the interactive sculpture we are working with the longest standing stall owner at the New Covent Garden Market, Porters Foliage (founded in 1901), to look at how flowers mark rites of passages around birth and death. We are working with local a primary school to open up conversations around death and dying. We are also inviting artist and poet Sophie Herxheimer to illustrate members of the public’s stories of ‘departures and arrivals’ live by the boards.”
Christie Hill, Producer at Battersea Arts Centre, said:
“We’re pleased to be continuing our partnership with the council to bring creative activity to our local Nine Elms communities. This brilliant piece by YARA + DAVINA offers a moment for the public to reflect on the people we’ve loved and lost or want to celebrate and be remembered. As we deal with ongoing racial injustice, the environmental crisis and in the wake of COVID-19, it feels like a timely moment for this bold and personal piece of art.”
