Founded in 2017, Cardiff-based Gentle/Radical are one of five groups shortlisted for this year’s prize, and for the first time in its history, the 2021 nominations are made up entirely of artist-collectives to include Array Collective, Black Obsidian Sound System, Cooking Sections and Project Art Works.
Gentle/Radical is an arts organisation made up of artists, community activists, conflict resolution trainers, faith workers, youth workers, equalities practitioners, performers, writers and others. They devise cultural activities and events to encompass film screenings, grassroots symposia, performative works, talks, meals, readings, gatherings, celebrations, and other actions that bring people together.
Gentle/Radical’s Exhibition
“To live is to live with others; colleagues, companions, neighbours and strangers.”
Gentle/Radical’s exhibition explores how we relate to, and witness each other, in times of both trouble and possibility. Drawing upon video, sung elements, text-based and printed works, their presentation explores how networks of comradeship - often overlooked in working cultures that privilege outputs and results - enable us to face the turbulent present, whilst imagining other futures.
A series of filmed works offer a window onto the group’s shared and ongoing conversations, posing questions about personal and collective agency in the face of external forces: How do we raise children beyond the nuclear family? How do we hold spaces for grief and loss amidst constant demands to remain productive? How do the multiplicities of diaspora show up amongst us?
A second video work sees a group of Cardiff residents learning, and singing together, the text of a Welsh Gorsedd bardic prayer written by Iolo Morganwg in the 18th century. Set to music by Cardiff-based folk duo Bragod, the work elevates the tentative act of learning, sharing and voicing together, in place of a final or finished product.
Other elements of the exhibition include a wall-based work detailing notes from an emergent curriculum that informs Gentle/Radical’s practice; and printed work, also echoing a Gorsedd text, centering the values of knowledge, strength, protection and justice.
Rabab Ghazoul, Gentle/Radical Director said:
For an organisation that’s usually found delivering cultural events within community settings, hearing about our nomination for the Turner Prize came as something of a shock. But it also felt like an incredible opportunity to think about how, as a collective, we could show up in a gallery context together.
"What’s emerged is an exhibition that shares some of the most intimate aspects of our work together - those ongoing dialogues behind the scenes, that speak to our grappling with coloniality, diaspora, resistance, healing, justice, loss and transformation. And of course, that work all takes place within Wales, so speaking in subtle ways to the richness of who we are, where we live, and the complex identities Wales holds, has also felt essential."
The development of Gentle/Radical’s exhibition for the Turner Prize has been supported by a curatorial team to include Ben GJ Thomas, Melissa Hinkin and Rabab Ghazoul; Simon Clode and Matt Smith of Crowblack Films; and Gentle/Radical members/associates Isabel Calvete, Adeola Dewis, Roseanna Dias, Laura Drane, Rabab Ghazoul, Thomas Goddard, Samson Hart, Tony Hendrickson, Rachel Kinchin, Stephen Lingwood, Ahmad Musa, Mary-Anne Roberts O’Reilly, Divya Parikh and Anushiye Yarnell.
Gentle/Radical’s exhibition has been made possible through support from Arts Council of Wales and Welsh Government.
For more information about Gentle/Radical: http://gentleradical.org/ and to visit the Turner Prize Exhibition and how to book.
