Congress Exhibition, Gill Dove

I love challenges and how artists can help describe and explore the world in diverse visual ways. My work is a response to the breath-taking but fragile beauty of East Anglia; reflecting the dramatic environmental changes along our coast, using a multi-disciplined approach. So it was with great excitement that I responded to John Ward asking me make illustrations for ‘Congress’, an historical and emotional cycle of poetry, song and story-telling that marries two disappearing cultures.

What interested me was the historic comparisons and similarities between the Lowestoft  fishing community of hardworking, vulnerable fishermen and their reliance on the catch and the plight of the Lakota Sioux, particularly from the Oglala tribe, whose way of life was threatened by the loss of their rightful lands and themindless slaughter of the buffalo. Members of those peoples, among other groups of horsemen and performers, were part of the Wild West show. My responsibility was to create powerful visual images from John Wards poetic words and music.

It is important to me that what you see in my illustrations is authentic and I get pleasure from research. I deep dived into the language and culture of the Oglala tribe, their beliefs, artefacts, symbolism and .clothing. For example, the symbols I use to represent Soaring Hawk are those used by the tribe themselves. I thought it important to show the roots of the ancient Native American people and their rich culture so my painting, used on the CD cover, uses drawings that I observed inscribed on a cliff in Utah, which also shows that buffalo have been in Americ for a very, very long time. Likewise, the drifters and trawlers in the ‘drowning nightmare’ illustration are contemporary to that period and the beacons at the entrance to Lowestoft harbour still exist. I  drew inspiration from the interior of Pakefield Church but also from my family roots as my great-grandmother was a Scottish fisher girl migrating southwards to gut the herring.

As you will see, my work is multi-discipled in my use of materials, full of colour and powerful emotion.