The Notice Board – Mark Richards and Kate Genever

Mark Richards and Kate Genever
Title: The Land of the Free

The Notice Board believes that art is not just useful as a way of coping but as a place to speak our truths. However, some of these truths have been and often still are controlled by historians, curators, politicians, leaving us with normative narratives and prohibitive policies that reflect the so called ‘mainstream’ and their values. But The Notice Board was, in part, imagined as a challenge to them and this. It’s a place where people and ideas previously excluded, marginalised or overlooked are given voice. The Notice Board opens a window onto a world that has always existed – a world we’ve been led to believe wasn’t there or true. One that’s been written out and supressed, sometimes glimpsed, but mostly kept at the edges or in the shadows. But Mark and Kate’s work tells of this free land – an open, fluid and accepting place which The Notice Board is proud to pull back the curtain on and celebrate.

Mark and Kate said: It started last summer between lockdown 1 and 2. We decided to send postcards to one another. But not any postcards- rather ones that featured portraits or figures and that we had adapted. We decided to use collage, giving ourselves permission to play without worry and to make without expectation. Collage allows you to work quickly, be inventive and invite in chance. Ideas bubble up – it lets your brain wander and gives your subconscious room to reveal the things that matter and as a direct response to the imagery already presented.

When we started we didn’t know where we’d end up or what might emerge. But given everything – our lives, histories, experiences – we maybe could have guessed. Working on postcards featuring historic artworks, our adaptions have invariably challenged the traditional narratives of figurative representation and art history.

Identity, Gaze, Shame, Muse, Androgyny, Commonality, Queer, Drag, Transgression, Fluidity, Defiance, Resistance, Joy, Love, Duality, Disclosure, Conversation, History, Masks, Disguises, Performance, Power, Seeing, Seen, Equality, Now, Forever, Us – seem important words as we invite you into the conversation to see what you see.