Jo Stockham is an artist based in London working with a range of media exploring language and materiality relating to archives or sites. Professor at the Royal College of Art, London, she was Ampersand Fellow at the British School in Rome (2022).
Art, whatever it takes – RomeArtProgram has made interviews with people involved in art, living in Italy, the USA and the UK, to know their feelings during the emergency.
– Jo Stockham interview:
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#1 RomeArtProgram: What is your definition of “Art” today?
– Jo: I try not to define Art as it is so varied, I see it as a series of practices which are constantly recombined.
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#2 RAP: Art is dynamic and regenerates itself… how does it change, and how did it change us?
– Jo: Art is dynamic and the forces which act on it are many and varied. I am interested in it as a tool to increase understanding and equality, to expose hidden histories and tell new stories. I find it changes me all the time; from encountering the anamorphic painting in Triniti di Monti in Rome to studio visits with fellow artists at the BSR, every encounter shifts previous understandings in subtle ways.
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#3 RAP: (and how) did you understand that art was becoming very important in your life?
– Jo: I understood as a young child that images, objects and stories helped me make sense of the world and posed questions in a way that school teaching often didn’t. I knew I wanted to go to Art School as soon as I understood that was possible but maybe to study drawing or graphics, not necessarily fine art.
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#4 RAP: What role does art play today? What are the “great figures” who have recently changed it? Do you feel close to any of these figures?
– Jo: The Arts can play a role in the difficult times we live in to remind people of beauty, of agency, of complexity, and to connect people and reduce isolation. The very idea of “great figures” is problematic as art is not a competition and the criteria of greatness is often not a consensus. We are seeing greater visibility of work addressing diversity, of makers and audiences and for me that is really positive.
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#5 RAP: Are there still traditional figures such as collectors, muses, mecenate and patrons, in today’s art and society interaction model?
– Jo: Museums, collectors, patrons can help artists meet audiences and sustain their practice by selling work. Artist generated studio and showing spaces, collectives and public works can create other structures which are also needed. Part of being creative is inventing new structures.
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#6 RAP: How have the new technologies and media culture changed art today, improving or worsening it…? What do you feel are your biggest challenges?
– Jo: New technologies transform the way in which images are circulated, this has positive and negative aspects. Easy access to video, sound, and time based means of circulation is hugely enabling and generative. But spatial and material practices can be misrepresented, literally flattened on the screen.
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#7 RAP: Art as a mirror of man, in this moment of emergency seems to be shattered …what do these fragments reflect now?… Shadow or light of the moment?
– Jo: The fragment, the co-relation of things seen as opposites, these are subjects for me. Some of the current global conflicts, climatic and social crises could bring us closer together to work with a hive mind and share ways of doing things. Art can help to have these conversations.
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#8 RAP: Understanding, interpreting, and then possibly judging the work of art; which is the right path when we are in front of a piece of art?
– Jo: There is no right path in front of a work of art, I worked in gallery education and the joy of that work was seeing how the previous life experiences of an audience inflects how they read what is in front of them and how perspectives change.
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#9 RAP: Which is the real role of Academies and Art schools today? What can artists learn from these institutions today?
– Jo: Being in an Art School both as a tutor and a student is a gift. They remain spaces where images and objects are both made and questioned which is productive as it reminds us that the world could be put together differently. Encountering different disciplines and people gives an insight into the many questions; technical, philosophical, social which bring people to make, study and view art.
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#10 RAP: Art too has undergone a complex process of globalization; can having an authentic and genuine style be an advantage or a drag for an artist?
– Jo: Unless work is motivated by genuine curiosity it cannot be developed. So authenticity comes from curiosity and a willingness to take risks.
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#11 RAP: How do Art Galleries and Museums position themselves today, and, in your opinion, how should they?
– Jo: Art Galleries and Museums became more dependent on local audiences in the pandemic. They need to engage with these audiences whilst contributing to online discussions sharing collections and interpretations.
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#12 RAP: “Figuration” vs “Abstraction”: which of the two is better descriptive of the period we live in? Which one will have a better future?
– Jo: All artwork involves abstraction I think this is a false binary and I am particularly interested in work which blurs this categorisation.
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#13 RAP: Today we often speak of “emerging artists”; what advice based on your experience do you feel you can give to young artists?
– Jo: I encourage emerging artists to be open to changes occurring in their work, to use any kind of rejection as a chance to learn and to try and be flexible about ways of making which might have to shift with circumstances. Also to group together and support other artists as so much more can be achieved by working together. I helped develop a gallery and studio group and co-founded a public education program at our studios creating along the way life-long friendships and opportunities for exhibitions, commissions and residencies. You can do these things collectively.
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#14 RAP: Art as a lens for reading the present, can it modify the space and time we pass through? …will art save us?
– Jo: Art is a lens for reading the present it can help us navigate uncertainty and give form to hopes and dreams in the face of the many destructive forces at work in the world.
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