exhibition — Sketchbook — Elizabeth Lander

The Residency

At the End of 2019 , I packed up and moved to Taiwan for 3 months. It was here I had been invited as Artist in Residence at the Pier-2 Art Center, located in the city of Kaohsuing.

This was my first residency and a great experience not only to live and work in a new place but to learn new a culture and language as this was also my first time to visit Asia.

My intial focus when searching for inspriation was centred on the night markets. Night Markets in Taiwan are everywhere! They are a symbol of their cultural landscape and really seem to bring the community to life compared to the quieter afternoons.

Over the two months I had to conduct my research, the images that came to form the project known as ‘Local Favourite’ were not not just confined to the night markets as a place of stalls selling food, but the way the local people gave vibrance each location. Whether it was a large busy street (with motorcycles many to dodge) or the courtyard of a local temple, it was easy to feel part of the community with a few small bites.

The Exhibition

‘Local Favourite’ opened on November 30th and ran until December 12th. It was here I presented my work along side other artist in residence; Emmi Jormalainen of Finland. As part of my exhibition I showcased 15 different paintings all done during my time at the residency. I also created my own ‘Night Market’ by setting up a small installation complete with a pair of my favourite red stools.

See the dedicated ‘Local Favorite’ Page to see all the paintings.

I will always rememeber this experenice, not only as it helped me to grow my practice but I fell in love with Taiwan and hope to be back very soon!

This week, myself and two other friends, Anatasija Pudane and Yuri Tayama hosted our private view for a our little exhibition held at the lovely LAGU cafe in Clapham.

It was great and worth the stress, because the results were great and we were proud of what we could accomplish with a little sweat and motivation from some great friends!