Jade Montserrat

{{Short description|English artist and writer}}

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Jade de Montserrat is a research-led artist and writer based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. She makes visual and live artworks that explore race and the vulnerabilities of bodies, the tactile and sensory qualities of language and challenge the structures of care in institutions.{{Cite web|url=http://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/news/artist-to-watch/jade-montserrat/|title=Jade Montserrat|date=2020-01-30|website=Contemporary Art Society|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-06}}

Early life and education

Born in 1981,{{Cite web|url=https://nataliebradbury.co.uk/writing/making-connections-jade-montserrat-on-art-on-the-underground|title = Natalie Bradbury}} Montserrat grew up in rural Yorkshire with her mother and stepfather.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/05/27/meet-jade-montserrat-the-black-artist-who-took-on-the-british-art-establishment|title=Meet Jade Montserrat, the Black artist who took on the British art establishment|journal=The Art Newspaper|first=Cristina|last=Ruiz|date=27 May 2021|access-date=8 May 2024}} She studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art from 2000 to 2003 and gained a MA in Drawing at Norwich University School of Art and Design, from 2008 to 2010, and was a Stuart Hall PhD scholar at the Institute of Black Atlantic Research, School of Art, Design and Performance at the University of Central Lancashire starting in 2017{{Cite web|url=http://stuarthallfoundation.org/what-we-do/fellowships-and-scholarships/jade-montserrat/|title=Jade Montserrat|website=Stuart Hall Foundation|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-03-05}} with a thesis on 'Race and Representation in Northern Britain in the context of the Black Atlantic: A Creative Practice Project'.

Career

Montserrat works collaboratively with artist and performance collectives including Network 11, Press Room, the Conway Cohort, Rainbow Tribe: Affectionate Movement and Ecology of Care Bureau. Selected screenings, performances and presentations include: Arnolfini, and Spike Island, Bristol (2017), Alison Jacques Gallery (2017), Princeton University (2016).

She is the recipient of the Jerwood Drawing Prize student award (2017) for 'No Need for Clothing', a documentary photograph of a drawing installation at Cooper Gallery DJCAD by Jacquetta Clark.

Montserrat has been a visiting artist at the University of Brighton, Camberwell College of Arts, Goldsmith, Leeds Beckett, and visiting lecturer at the University of Reading, Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and King's College.

In February 2020 Montserrat became the first artist to be commissioned under the Future Collect project managed by INIVA, a scheme to support museums and galleries to commission artists of African and/or Asian descent.{{Cite web|url=https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/27022020-Iniva-commissions-first-Future-Collect-artist|title=Iniva commissions first Future Collect artist {{!}} Museums Association|website=www.museumsassociation.org|date=27 February 2020 |access-date=2020-03-06}}

Exhibitions

  • 'Instituting Care' at Humber Street Gallery, 20 July - 1 September 2019{{Cite web|title=Jade Montserrat: Instituting Care|url=http://www.humberstreetgallery.co.uk/exhibition/jade-montserrat-instituting-care/|access-date=2021-05-19|website=Humber Street Gallery|language=en-US|archive-date=19 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519104259/http://www.humberstreetgallery.co.uk/exhibition/jade-montserrat-instituting-care/}} and The Bluecoat, 17 November - 31 March 2019. This exhibition was part of the artist's practice-led PHD 'Race and Representation in Northern Britain in the context of the Black Atlantic: A Creative Practice Project'.{{Cite web|title=Exhibitions at the Bluecoat » Gallery: Jade Montserrat: Instituting Care|url=https://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/gallery/jade-montserrat-instituting-care|access-date=2021-05-19|website=www.thebluecoat.org.uk|archive-date=19 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519104257/https://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/gallery/jade-montserrat-instituting-care}} The work consisted of a rustic pod - constructed from wood, hung with foil and blankets and filled with the artist's own books- sitting within a gallery space in which the walls have been entirely covered with words and phrases drawn in charcoal.{{Cite web|title=Jade Montserrat: Instituting Care|url=https://www.absolutelycultured.co.uk/whats-on/past-projects/jade-montserrat-instituting-care/|access-date=2021-05-19|website=Absolutely Cultured|language=en-GB}} The words and phrases drawn on the wall were drawn from the artist's bibliography of texts for her thesis. The artist drew directly onto the gallery walls over a period of days - part of a durational performance called No Need for Clothing.{{Cite magazine |last=Velvick|first=Lauren|date=June 2020|title=Lockdown|magazine=Art Monthly|number=437|page=10}}
  • 'Jade Montserrat', Stuart Hall Library, Iniva, 1 Jan - 29 Feb 2020{{Cite web|date=2019-12-03|title=Jade Montserrat|url=https://iniva.org/programme/projects/jade-montserrat/|access-date=2021-05-19|website=iniva|language=en}} an exhibition of 20 small colourful works on paper, many using texts drawn from writers including bell hooks and Sara Ahmed.{{Cite web|title=Gilda Williams on Jade Montserrat|url=https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/202004/jade-montserrat-82527|access-date=2021-05-19|website=www.artforum.com|date=April 2020 |language=en-US}}

Selected works

  • 'Love.Love?', performance, 'Rural Assembly' at Wysing Arts Centre
  • T'Anthem', IPAF, Warehouse 9, Copenhagen{{Cite web|url=https://www.ipaf.dk/en/|title=International Performance Art Festival|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-05|archive-date=5 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205210612/http://www.ipaf.dk/en/}}
  • 'Revue', SPILL Festival of Performance in October 2018{{Cite web|url=https://www.spillfestival.com/show/revue/|title=Revue|website=SPILL Festival|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-05|archive-date=28 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928143952/https://www.spillfestival.com/show/revue/}}
  • THE ANNOTATED READER 9b Cork Street Galleries, London
  • Art on the Underground, Transport for London Night Tube Map commission{{Cite web|url=https://art.tfl.gov.uk/shop/in-memory-of-sarah-reed/|title=In Memory of Sarah Reed|website=Art on the Underground|language=en|access-date=2020-03-05}}
  • "4717"  – The Royal College of Art Contemporary Curating Art Show, record recode{{Cite web|url=https://lux.org.uk/writing/4717-live-stream|title=4717 live-stream|date=2018-04-26|website=LUX|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-03-05}}
  • The Last Place They Thought Of, ICA, Philadelphia{{Cite web|url=https://icaphila.org/exhibitions/the-last-place-they-thought-of/|title=The Last Place They Thought Of - ICA Philadelphia|date=2018-02-19|website=Institute of Contemporary Art - Philadelphia, PA|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-05}}
  • 'No Need For Clothing', Slow Sunday, Steakhouse Live, Arts Admin, University of Bath, Castlefield Gallery 2018{{Cite web|url=https://www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/event/artist-talk-jade-montserrat/|title=Artist Talk: Jade Montserrat – Castlefield Gallery|date=6 February 2018|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-05}}

References