The current zeitgeist, both political and social, has fed Ross’ work over the past few years and the work he he has produced is very much a commentary on the world we live in today. Displayed together at the PRISM Exhibition ‘Any Other Business’, each one is a protest piece in response to the chaos and injustice we are living through, a sign of the times…
‘Invasion’ looks at the small boats crisis, first addressed by Ross in Still Life. With so much poisonous rhetoric in the political discourse, with the othering of the people fleeing intolerable circumstances caused by war, famine, persecution and political upheaval. The Nationality and Borders Act, has made asylum claims inadmissible from those who travel to the UK on small boats, preventing them from ever claiming asylum in the UK’ and granting new powers to detain refugees without effective judicial oversight. The piece was chosen to be exhibited as part of the Food Lovers Festival, in the beautiful North Yorkshire village of Malton. Known as Yorkshire’s food capital, the town is filled with art pieces during the food festival, which then moves to Dalby Forest at the heart of the North York Moors National Park. ‘Invasion’, with its tall steel and wool inhabitants couldn’t fit its surroundings any better, with the verticals of the piece echoed by the surrounding trees. The forest frames the sculpture, as it seemingly precariously clings to the slope. The outdoor settling is weathering the work beautifully.
‘This Is A Protest’ is a new installation, created in the shape of a homeless persons tent. With headline grabbing soundbites of “invasion”, “serious disruption” and “hate marches”, crafting common culture and motivating action, legislation was sanctioned to prevent and arrest, obstructions which caused “more than minor hindrance to day-to-day activities”. We must Protect our Right to Peaceful Protest.
The Criminal Justice / Policing Bill, with its hidden agenda has vague, far reaching police powers, criminalising; begging and rough sleeping, portraying it as a “lifestyle choice”, various forms of peaceful protest, expanded stop-and-search powers, the creation of protest banning orders and serious disruption prevention orders, including pre-emptive protester arrests. The police can impose conditions on protests, backed by prison sentences, in order to prevent “serious disruption”, defined as an obstruction causing “more than minor hindrance to day-to-day activities”
‘Weight of the World’ asks the question ‘Is religion inherently conflictual or the source of peace?’ As fundamentalists use religion to expand the acceptability of violence, escalating global atrocities with the abuse of civil liberties, particularly women’s rights. Religion’s ingrained code of silence exacerbates the erosion of human rights in modern society.
We are witnessing global atrocities and the erosion of civil liberties, pertaining to gender, the role of women in society and lifestyle choices. The inherent code of silence adopted by religion does little to promote interfaith dialogue or education, which would facilitate the understanding and respect for other faiths, ensuing the tolerance and acceptability of civil liberties in the modern world.
Text and images @moderneccentrics