Making Ground, a residency by UK painter Ruth Philo, explores site as material and archaeologies connecting pigment, people and place. Ruth worked at PADA Studios for two weeks in November 2022, responding to the post-industrial and architectural environment of the city of Barreiro. She uncovered layers of habitation and took paint samples from dilapidated buildings and the now derelict Sotinco paint factory. The collected pigments and paint samples created a site-specific colour palette for a new series of paintings. Ruth’s interest lies in both site as a material source for painting and in the immaterial or unconscious connections made. She also found colour in the post-industrial landscape, where caput mortuum lay waste as a by-product from the earlier sulphuric acid industry there.
Gaston Bachelard wrote that ‘the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace’ (The Poetics of Space, Beacon Press 1964: 6). Buildings are symbols of security; ruined buildings speak of threats to stability and the emotional impact of dilapidation, displacement or homelessness. The paintings explore the inextricable physical and emotional connections with the territory and the entanglement of people and ruins amid reconstruction and social issues around housing, the rise in Airbnb, tourism and foreign investment in Barreiro. The work speaks of the temporality of the site and its uses, thresholds crossed that deeply affect ecological and built environments and their communities. Connecting with audiences emotionally and visually, conversations can open up about experiences of place, territory, appropriation and consequence.
This project has generously been supported by an Arts Council England, Develop Your Creative Practice grant.
Gaston Bachelard wrote that ‘the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace’ (The Poetics of Space, Beacon Press 1964: 6). Buildings are symbols of security; ruined buildings speak of threats to stability and the emotional impact of dilapidation, displacement or homelessness. The paintings explore the inextricable physical and emotional connections with the territory and the entanglement of people and ruins amid reconstruction and social issues around housing, the rise in Airbnb, tourism and foreign investment in Barreiro. The work speaks of the temporality of the site and its uses, thresholds crossed that deeply affect ecological and built environments and their communities. Connecting with audiences emotionally and visually, conversations can open up about experiences of place, territory, appropriation and consequence.
This project has generously been supported by an Arts Council England, Develop Your Creative Practice grant.
