Ma Contemporary art Practice Graduation Show

Putting on an art show is a huge undertaking especially when it is for you masters degree as you are most likely working a job, running a family or doing a million other things along side your study. So to have a show at Mills Bakery in Royal William Yard, Plymouth must be super daunting as it really is massive... But you just get on with it. That is exactly what these guys did.

Having studied along side them for the last year it is so great to see how their projects have turned out. Elements that have been discussed and thrown around within the whole Ma cohort have come to be. Surprising elements that were a hint of an idea have become realised in this show. As their projects became productive for the final effort to make the show happen everyone else was finishing and taking their shows down or heading home for summer. Making a period of time for them where creativity took place. That makes for the surprise when the work is finally presented to the public.

On entering the Gallery for the private view there is an action happening before you. Sitting on a large circle of something black you see a lady sitting on her knees manipulating something in her hands. As you get closer you realise it's all hair and she is plaiting it. The quiet expressionless figure is plaiting and un plaiting the end of the hair which is all connected and forms the entire circle in the space on which she sits. Not knowing how to feel, comforted or melancholic this friendly act of plaiting hair seems endless for the figure.

I know that this work has a root in the experience of death and how hair will outlast the body once we begin to return to the elements. However this work doesn't make us sad about death, if you know that it references death at all. More so it puts us in a position to pause and think. We watch this work happen before us knowing it will carry on if we leave the space. Equally we can watch from anywhere in the space. This encouragement to view from any perspective if freeing for the viewer and inclusive of any views. To return and see this work without the performance will change how it feels and the viewer will miss something important, however there is a projected element to this work which fills in for the lack of a sitter in the plaits. I film of this plaiting action is also in the space and on a loop suggests the endless effort put in by the artist.

Lost Devon Words. This work brings to our attention forgotten language, lost words and a system of recording. Words are highlighted here that are considered lost or out of circulation, disappearing perhaps with generations as times change. Words that slowly become un-recognised in general language are meticulously recorded and displayed. Here Caitlin has screen printed and framed these words, making them important again. In addition there are concertina books on shelves that are even more intricately printed and folded. This attention for detail and presentation of so many odd sounding words, which by the way are a pleasure to say in a west country accent describe many things. From plant names to insects to social descriptions of people such as "MIXY GO VOLLES". Although these words dont seem to be used they are very permanent in this work. For me it's a reminder of all the 'new' words that appear in youth slang today that go out of fashion as fast as they came. Also bring to mind that reaction of shock that people seem to have when they hear of a new word being entered into the Oxford English Dictionary. Here these words mean something, even though we might not know what, dig around the work a little more and you may learn a new old word.

A project that had new ways of displaying work from what I had seen before was Juilet Middleton-Batts. This work occupied the largest space in the gallery and it was impressive how it was filled. A great piece that hadn't been shown before was the light portraits. Perspex that was hanging in the space but close to a wall with an etched image on, revealed the portrait of a female relative as a shadow when the light shone through it. There were several of these.

These portraits have two things that stand out to me. Firstly, they show us what we think is a black and white photograph. That is to say there is no colour in these images. But also they are not black and white in the sense that we know because they are light and shadow. So they are other. Other than a photograph, an image on paper. This really allows is to deconstruct image making or display conventions.

Secondly, as we get the shadow casting an image onto the wall we also get the ghostly negative display of the light on the plastic. This doesn't play so much into the context of the work other than Ghosty images of faces that may have passed (although this work isn't about that that). But adds a stark contrast to the beauty of the shadows and the women in them. It also exposes the material and method of making the work. This is only a small part of what is on show in this space but was something new and exciting from the project.

Large forms in the space draw our attention from the walls or screens to the centre where we can engage with these blocks. They influence our movement as we move through the space and disrupt the flow, creating new sight lines and stopping points. They act as minimalist architecture on a scaled model of an urban plan. We can liken these blocks to the movement that urban space constructs for human movement. Grey blocks on the skyline with tantalising red insides that move us through constructed space. We traverse where we can but look up at the forms that create the free spaces that we move through.

We even get to play with this work as towards the back of this space there are some tactile blocks to engage with. Here we play architect or creator as the blocks become whatever you want them to be. For me they show an overhead plan view of engaging buildings, a birds eye view of a city. They become a way to order shapes and make something neat with a satisfying flow. We see similarities and differences in the blocks and by including both we construct something we think can work. Taking in to consideration the relationship of each piece, each construction, the whole ensemble on the table and the table in the space, we scale up and out as we engage and imagine something bigger. The scale in Karen's work is where the success lies. At the same time we can manipulate this work with something ergonomic and are engulfed by its size.

Nearby was the illusion and relic based work of Philip Bath. This work was so difficult to get any images of as the surfaces to images were so glossy, the mirrors were distorting and the relics were behind tinted mirrored glass. There was a certain amount of technology and simple illusion that just have to be experienced. I imagine that the difficulty in taking photographs of this work would please Philip as the relic element of his work has us wondering about objects capturing importance. These objects familiar to different faiths are inside tinted glass boxes making them hard to see. thus making the viewer work hard to serve the potentially important objects. They are put together with other objects and sublime images such as lucky cats and a chanting box, all presented in a way that elevate them to a state of importance. Which ones are most important? Which ones are real, or cheap, or mass produced, or rare. Which ones are old and need care to preserve them? These objects are all shown where the end of the space tapers into a black recess with lights and sound that gently resonate. The colour of the strip where the light comes through gently changing from red to blue, through the spectrum and mesmerising anyone who stops to watch.

Finally in this show is the work of Laura Hopes. The largest of the work in her space are two films shown side by side on large perspex projection screens. Both showing a human figure in a desolate, manmade landscape. One involves the artist moving in a quarry inside a zorb ball, the other is the artist again but here swimming in a lake with rope attached and dragging behind her. There is a struggle in both films as the artist tries to make sense of the space. Drone shots of the landscape show the scale of the place compared to her body, also highlighting how barren this once wild place has become.

Ropes feature prominently in this work. They are used to hang the screens, a rope is used in one of the films and bell ringing ropes lay on the ground behind the screens. Bell ringing ropes connect sound to the landscape. As church bells ring across the Devon countryside they connect physical acts with the land. This symbol of bell ringing is paired with the effort in the film of moving rope through the land and water, another difficult act.