Spotlight.
Grace Siregar
INTRODUCTION
Grace Siregar is a Scottish-Indonesian multimedia visual artist who has exhibited extensively in Indonesia and around the world including the Indonesian National Gallery, Cameroon National Gallery and the Senegal National Gallery. Her work is eclectic and unpredictable and she shifts between media fluidly. Her work has included installations, video art, photography, painting, sculpture and performance art. She currently lives with her family on the Isle of Bute.
INTERVIEW
How did you get into art? What initially inspired you?
When I was around six, in Bangka Island in Indonesia where I grew up, my Dad noticed I loved drawing so he used to bring me paper home, which I would fill up straight away. Then he arranged for me to spend time with a local roving artist, Ahmad, who taught me to draw things how my mind's eye sees them and not worry about how others see them. I also spent a lot of time in very wild rainforest around places we lived. These were my early inspirations.
What themes do you tend to interrogate in your work?
I get drawn in varied directions: I have lived in multiple countries so observation of place often draws me in, also our ties with family and with our planet.
What is your favourite project you’ve ever worked on and why?
I once led local artists in Tobelo, Halmahera Island, North Moluccas province, Indonesia to create a huge installation exhibition in a coconut grove. These were artists who had never heard of installation work. The huge space we had and the way they used local materials and drew on their own traditions was really exciting.
What advice would you have for creatives of colour looking to get into art?
Be proud and unapologetic of precisely who you are and who you want to be. Be bold. Never give up.
What are you currently working on?
I currently have a solo show, 'Fragility', on at Beacon Arts Centre so I am relaxing for a while! The work is a mixture of photography, video and painting (both acrylic and watercolour). The show covers two themes: the impact of lockdown on my family and the death of my mother. It is a contemplative, joyful and robust reaction to things outside of our control.
More information can be found at: beaconartscentre.co.uk/exhibitions - Grace’s solo exhibition runs until 24 February