This bursary would allow me to produce a new body of work which focuses on empowering young people’s sense of citizenship and their ability to make a contribution to wider society. The roots for this work emerge out of my Arts Council funded project Tolerance, during which I identified an area of concern that came to my attention during the workshops I led with young people. Those from more deprived communities did not feel connected to the democratic process because of their perception that it was irrelevant from their daily life.
They were concerned about the failings of society but felt their engagement with politics wouldn’t lead to any significant change. As a result, they lived in a “political vacuum” that opens negative ideas on the notion of the “Other” as the source of disruption in society.
Using art workshops with local schools in Darlington as well as in the South East I will seek to establish a dialogue between the North and South of England and encourage students engage artistically with the themes of democracy, the democratic process and the usefulness and limitations of politics and how this process works for the benefit of the public as well as explore the influence of migration, its contribution to a pluralistic, culturally rich environment and how it is, and has always been, an integral part of the fabric of society.
I am hugely motivated to push these ideas further, to create a body of work that would engage with young people, to explore the notion of ‘global citizen’ to promote intrinsic democratic values as belonging to humanity. The bursary would enable me to develop these ideas and create an exciting art exhibition to be shown in Darlington.
As an artist/educator, I have substantial public engagement experience running creative workshops for hard-to-reach groups and diverse communities. I am a skilled facilitator with a large experience of working with students at all levels and in a variety of educational settings throughout the world, I have numerous educational qualifications and hold QTS. I will engage with marginalised communities to enable their expression of lived experience of democracy and foster debate and elicit artistic dissemination on the issues of democracy in Darlington.
This project’s engagement with the topical issues of democracy, and the involvement and voices of young people from Darlington will attract both local and national interest, raising the profile of creative arts in diverse ways.
One of the goals of the project would be to form an informal North East/South East dialogue between young people/school partners, using a virtual space as a creative forum where young people from different ends of the country can share their work and initiatives.
I am already in touch with Sussex Downs College in the South East where I live who are interested in such partnership.
When exhibiting in Darlington I will seek to engage with the MIMA School of Art & Design, and the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), but making the exhibition accessible to young people and their friends and families will be a central concern for me.
I will seek informal partnerships and forms of engagement with key organisations such as Teesside University’s Centre for Social Innovation and the Centre for Culture and Creativity but also engage with the rich history of the town and region.
I will engage with grassroot movements in Darlington, such as DAR, Darlington Assistance for Refugees, to raise awareness about the project among diverse community groups and will seek to communicate with local artists and include their participation in the final exhibition so that it is perceived as a truly participatory project. This will in turn create a strong incentive for an extensive social media and online publicity campaign.
I was born into a Franco-Spanish family in Algeria during French colonial rule. As a young adult, I worked in South Africa for two years at the University of Fort Hare, a key institution in higher education for black Africans which counted among its alumnae a number of prominent opponents of the apartheid. This experience of a society based on discrimination and repression for a large part of the population deeply marked me and fuelled my commitment to equality and human rights. My work is concerned with diaspora, identity, post-colonialism and the existential crisis humanity faces and paradigm shift required of us to combat climate change. My practice, through digital art, painting and installation is concerned with the interfaces between geopolitical and environmental challenges. My work develops my artistic philosophy and concerns with humanity as well as explore our relationship with our environment. My practice is deeply informed by my personal history Selected exhibitions 2024 8th International Festival of Contemporary Art, Palais de la Culture, Algiers 2024 Algerian Cultural Festival with Culturama, P21 Gallery, London 2024 Arcadia, Galerie Civ-Oeil, Oran, Algerie 2023 ‘Timelessness of a Church’ , with the Behnoode Foundation, London 2022 Two-man show with Hay Hill Gallery, Vintners Place, London 2021 A Walk on the Bridge, Hay Hill Gallery, London 2020 London Art Fair, Islington. 2019 “Tolerance”, with the support of the Arts Council England, Gerald Moore Gallery, London 2018 Summer Show, Gallery of African Art, Mayfair, London 2018 Migration, with Ronald Muchatuta, Gallery of African Art, Mayfair, London 2017 Oran 4th Biennale of Contemporary Art, (MAMO), Algeria. 2016 Africa, my Africa, with Lahd Gallery at GAFRA, Chelsea, London 2016 Art16, London Global Art Fair, with Lahd Gallery, London 2015 7th International Festival of Contemporary Arts, (MAMA), Algeria 2015 Art Bahrain Art Fair, with Janet Rady Gallery, Bahrain. 2015 Frayed Ideologies, Hay Hill Gallery, London 2014 3rd Mediterranean Contemporary Art Biennale, Oran, Algeria. 2014 A story of revolutionsTriskel Art Center, Cork, 2013 Sanctuary: Home, Away, Common Ground Brunei Gallery, SOAS 2011 Helsinki International Art Fair, Uusitalo Gallery, Helsinki, Finland. 2010 San Diego Art Fair, Garboushian Gallery, San Diego.
I trained as an artist in Ecuador, France and England and was awarded my MA in Fine Art from the University of Brighton in 2008.
I was also twice-recipient of a Leverhulme Trust Artist in Residence grant:
In 2006, with the Cancer Centre Royal Sussex Hospital/University of Sussex Medical School to explore the role of the oncologist in the healing process of cancer.
In 2013, with the University of Portsmouth to research French Settlers diaspora and the relationship between Power and Representation in Algeria.
These experiences, as well as “Tolerance”, my recently completed Arts Council bid, have given me a proven track record of engagement with the public (students and adults) as well as the research community.
“Les Riches Heures”, Digital print on photographic paper, dim: 200x110cm purchased by The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Arts Algiers (MAMA)
“Transcultural Influences” Digital print on photographic paper, dim: 120x90m, purchased by Museum of Modern Arts of Oran (MAMO), Algeria.
My artwork has been review and featured in numerous art magazines and blogs such as Art Daily, Curating the Contemporary, Blown Art Info, Trebuchet Magazine, Arts and Collections, Europe Now Journal as well as blogs such as Nalha Ink, Considering Art, the double Negative, Nour Festival Blog and Newspapers such as Hastings independent free Press, L’Oranais, EL Whatan, Le Soir d’Alger. My work has been review by researchers in Zapruder, JadMag and Francophone Africa, University of Portsmouth
I am represented by Janet Rady Fine Arts (London and Dubai). Janet Rady acted as curator for “Tolerance” my Arts Council funded exhibition at Gerald Moore Gallery last year and showed my work at the London Art Fair 2020.
2011 Working Across Borders. Networking scheme between East Sussex, Northern France and Belgium.
2012-2013: The Leverhulme Trust Artist Residency. One Year collaboration with the University of Portsmouth and various institutions in Algeria to explore “Representations, discourses and identity within the context of postcolonialism and the Algerian revolution.
2007-2008 The Leverhulme Trust Fellowship. One-year collaborative project with the Oncology team of the Royal Sussex Hospital, Brighton and the University of Sussex Medical School.
2008 Portland Residency, Portland Quarry Land Art. One week residency.
Email: patrick.altes@gmail.com
Address: 122 London Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN37 6LT, GB
Local Authority: Hastings Borough Council
