I propose creating a museum of untold, everyday stories around Darlington. I would use the award to research, collect stories and objects, build connections, experiment and make. These processes would culminate in a ‘Museum of Everyday’; a series of sculptures, curious objects, drawings and audio narratives placed in locations around the town. I am interested in exploring public art as connecting process between communities, an intimate encounter that elevates the everyday mundane, and gives voice to the unheard.
I propose beginning my research in Darlington charity shops collecting stories and objects. Charity shops are a place of exchange. They are also like museums, each item with an anonymous history. I frequently get asked the question ‘where do you come from?’ I don’t know how to answer – like the objects in a charity shop, I don’t come from anywhere in particular. Here I will meet people, make audio recordings of conversations – asking questions such as where they have come from; this could refer to ancestry, birthplace, where they woke this morning or even the last shop they were in. I will purchase items from the charity shops chosen by my interviewees, particularly clothing. These objects will be transformed through my various tactile casting processes and drawing. Each resulting piece will retell a collected story and be exhibited alongside edits of the audio recordings. At this stage I am imagining a series of small works, on a haptic human scale. I am interested in public art not as grand narrative or monument to the big heroes, but to the everyday, as small moments to be discovered.
I want to push my practice into the public realm with people and stories central, retaining the intimacy. I am keen to see my work in a new context, the challenge would be to take it out of the gallery space and place the artwork and audio listening posts into relevant everyday spaces – e.g. shops, libraries, high streets, care homes, residential streets and parks, leisure centres – indoor or outdoor, creating an everyday museum around Darlington.
I am interested in transient connections and paths that cross through place, time and histories from the Deornoth people to current day inhabitants – exploring and promoting connections in Darlington through the creative arts. My family name originates from across the county boundary in North Yorkshire, from Northern European Anglo Saxon or Viking. I live in London, I am represented by Close Ltd in Somerset. Like the railways that connect and will bring me to and from Darlington, this project would connect people and places.
I would like the Museum of Everyday to occupy everyday spaces, to make it relevant and promote empathy in increasingly divided world; to make it about conversation. It is important to me that the work and processes are accessible. I hope this project would be relevant to new audiences by giving voice to untold stories. I hope that this would foster new collaborations for all involved.
Previous projects have given me the opportunity to get to know towns around the UK – e.g. Worthing and Taunton. I love the process of exploring a new place, people and stories. It would be a great opportunity to do this in Darlington.
I work with found objects and materials such as felt, plaster, concrete, rubber or photographic surfaces, using processes such as wrapping, casting or other interventions in space and surface. I am interested in how materials are shaped by temporality, or how memory becomes embedded in matter. A sensitivity to touch is central to my practice. I am interested in collective and autobiographical memories contained in belongings, particularly clothing. Clothes help define our identity – our sense of self. When we move from elsewhere we pack our clothes, they give a continuity of self in a new space. Memories of absent clothing can take us back to a remembered place or person. My casting process involves stitching the clothing and filling it with casting material. Then I peel the fabric off revealing the solid, weighty cast.
“In this time of human conflict and widespread environmental destruction, there is a glimmer of hope in the work of Helen Barff. Evidenced by intriguing, thought provoking castings and drawings, that speak of emptiness and remnants of memory… Identifying the power of the human spirit to prevail.
She explores through communications and conversations with people that span a wide demographic… she has created an eccentric menagerie of sculptures that take on a presence of animal, human, or something in-between. Her work suggests the complexity of life as well as the mythologies, superstitions and vanities that underpin it the shadowy ‘other’ within us all.” Freeny Yianni For her recent solo show at Close Ltd, Taunton ‘I Wrap My Fear Around Me Like A Blanket’, she worked with cross-generational communities of Somerset exploring ‘safe spaces’. Other solo exhibitions include ‘Many and many a day like this’ at The Stone Space, London, 2021 and ‘Memory of Clothes’ at Worthing Museum, 2019. Group exhibitions include ‘All the Names’ at Scrap Metal, Toronto; the Jerwood Drawing Prize; a touring museum exhibition in Mexico; ‘Matter and Memory’ at Alison Jacques Gallery and ‘Open Cube’ at White Cube. Helen also teaches, runs workshops and seminars. Her work is held in various collections in the UK, Canada, Mexico and the USA.
Camberwell College of Art – MA Drawing, distinction, 2004
Goldsmiths College – BA hons Fine Art and Art History, 1st class degree, 1999
Arts Council England National Lottery Grants:
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket, Close Ltd and Taunton Brewhouse, 2022 solo exhibition / project exploring ‘places of safety’ with cross generational communities in Somerset. Included den building workshop with young people; WW2 reminiscing workshop with elders; guided walks along a local canal to visit remnants of WW2 defence bunkers; and a podcast with artists, a psychologist and historian. (£15,000)
Memory of Clothes, Worthing Museum, 2019 In partnership with a local care home for the elderly. A series of cross-generational workshops exploring memories of WW2 through clothing, culminating in a podcast of interviews and solo exhibition – including work made by elders. (£13,000)
Two Boats, Deptford X, 2008 An installation in the Deptford Creek. (£9,000)
AN Time Space Money Grant, 2022 for time / travel to Somerset to explore connections to WW2 in the landscape.
AN Professional Development bursary, 2018 Wardrobe interviews: I asked volunteers to choose and discuss 4 items of clothing that have a particular memory of place, time or person. This led to collaborative research which has demonstrated the importance of clothing in maintaining identity for displaced people.
I devised and managed the projects mentioned above. This involved:
• Creating engaging, inclusive ideas for projects
• Making and presenting my work in solo exhibitions
• Running reminiscence workshops for elders – this involved loaning handling collections from museums, audio interviews and making
• Researching locations and archives
• Den building workshop for kids
• Organising / delivering cross generational events
• Collaborating with local community groups and care homes
• Undertaking appropriate training – e.g. dementia
• Organising public facing events such as talks / seminars in galleries
• Interviewing members of the public
• Edited and produced audio works and a short podcast
• Recruiting and collaborating with other artists and freelancers
• Managing budgets and timelines
• Evaluating projects
• Ensuring safe-guarding policy and PPE for workshops
Finding Family – Foundling Museum 2023 – Foundling Museum, Finding Family.
Commission to make a sculpture on the theme of ‘Family’ for a project with the Foundling Museum working with young care leavers. My sculpture ‘Holding’ was accompanied by an audio piece that documented extracts of conversations I had with family and friends when researching the theme of family.
https://soundcloud.com/foundlingmuseum/helen-barff-objects-and-secrets
South London Gallery – Lost on Route; Route 12:36, 2000 commission to make artwork to be exhibited on the buses 12 and 36. I made photograms of lost property items which were on the bus and linked to a website featuring further images along the route.
My Body in My Hands, Sam Lucas and Nick Grellier, one page feature, 2024
Maze Magazine, full page feature, 2017
Drawing in the Grey Zone by David Vanderburgh, SURFACE/ΕΠΙΦΑΝΕΙΑΕΠΙΦΑΝΕΙΑ: Digital Materiality and the New Relation between Depth and Surface, Futura Publications, Athens, 2013
Open Cube, interview with Adriano Pedrosa, White Cube, London, 2013
Objects and Materials, A Routledge Companion – front cover and interview, London, 2013
Wallpaper Magazine ‘Umbras Game’ feature, 2009
Artist Newsletter – front cover feature, 2007
New Art from London – Chris Townsend, Thames and Hudson, London , 2006
I am represented by Close Ltd, Somerset. www.closeltd.com
Artist in Residence positions:
Bromley High School, May 2024 – making work alongside YR 10 and 12, focusing on ‘nearness and distance’ in drawing and sculpture.
Rabley Contemporary, Wiltshire, 2009 – on a working farm in Wiltshire farm, resulting in solo exhibition.
Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa, Triangle Arts / Gasworks Gallery, 2008 – 3 months making new work, included developing project with Cape Town Society for the Blind.
Richard DeMarco Art Foundation Space – Skateraw, Scotland, 2005 – making work in response to the location.
Ravensbourne School, Bromley, 2001 – working with various ages based on my degree show work.
Email: helen@helenbarff.co.uk
Address: 8 Rockwell Gardens, Gipsy Hill, London, London, se19 1hw, GB
Local Authority: Southwark
