Jade Foster

Jade Foster
Wallpaper
July 7th — August 19th, 2023 
Contemporary Art Library

Wallpaper is the first solo exhibition by artist and curator Jade Foster.

Encircling the walls of both exhibition spaces and adjoining corridor is a series of photographs printed from scanned 35mm colour negatives. These images document a private performance that took place within an art gallery called Eastside Projects in Birmingham. The space was mid-changeover; wallpaper that had been applied to the walls for a previous exhibition was in the process of being removed.

Under the window in the front gallery is a desk supporting a turntable and a selection of records that belonged to Foster's grandfather. With assistance, these records can be played and listened to via headphones.

Displayed within the sash window is a small porcelain vessel that also belonged to Foster's grandparents. A small photograph of Foster's grandmother, normally stored inside the pot, is presented alongside. The pot was found in a decadent crystal cabinet in their grandparent's front room.

Hung on the opposite wall is a framed drawing by Foster executed in coloured pencil, oil, and soft pastel. The drawing depicts the artist's mouth, from the perspective of anatomical experience (the tactile sensation of the interiority of the mouth) and as a site for desire, expression, and contention.

In the rear gallery, the daylight-balanced bulbs have been swapped with ultraviolet fluorescent tubes (otherwise known as 'black lights').

A soundtrack – recorded, edited, and manipulated by Foster, plays into the room via a flush-mounted speaker in the ceiling. A black speaker grille is mounted on top, reminiscent of the hardware used in the construction of speakers in sound-system culture.

The audio track captures artist, curator, and BLK Art Group co-founding member Marlene Smith describing the subject of invisibility/hyper-visibility to Foster from her position as a black woman inhabiting both civic and cultural space. The analogy of 'wallpaper' is utilised in this speech as an aid in articulating this experience.