Page 20 - Real Rochdale Issue 12 Winter 2021

New exhibitions at
Touchstones explore Rochdale
heritage and identities
Three new exhibits will look at
local heritage, community, and
representation, and works that can be
interpreted in multiple ways.
Major new art displays by 2019 Turner Prize
winner, Helen Cammock, and The Paul Hamlyn
Foundation award recipient, Jasleen Kaur, are
now on display at Touchstones.
Centring on film works created with the
participation of community groups from
Rochdale, Helen Cammock’s ‘Concrete
Feathers and Porcelain Tacks’ and Kaur’s ‘Gut
Feelings Meri Jaan’ will run until February
2022.
For her exhibition, Cammock has taken the
hugely influential 1884 Rochdale Principles of
Co-operation as a point of departure, looking
to reconnect with these ideas through open
dialogues with residents of Rochdale. Together,
residents and community groups have
examined what it means to exist as part of a
community through film, photography, print,
Exhibitions at Touchstones
George Meyrick: Aligned Raised Lowered
Offset Paired
Gallery One until Sunday 9 January 2022
What’s Changed?
Gallery Two until Saturday 1 January 2022
Jasleen Kaur: Gut Feelings Meri Jaan
Gallery Three until Sunday 13 February 2022
Helen Cammock: Concrete Feathers and
Porcelain Tacks
Gallery Four until Sunday 13 February 2022
REAL ROCHDALE - WINTER 2021
Using simple, geometric forms
to create works that can be
interpreted in multiple ways,
Meyrick has even
incorporated elements of
Touchstones’ exhibition space.
“My works may seem difficult
to explain and understand, but
this is a key part of
interpreting them,” said the
contemporary artist.
“Imagined alternative
interpretations of the
Filming for Gut Feelings Meri Jaan elements are a key part of the
visual experience.
The resulting work – Another exhibition bringing “I love encouraging the viewer
commissioned by UP Projects shapes to life, ‘Aligned Raised to make their own judgement
in partnership with Lowered Offset Paired’ on the work, and it exists to be
Helen Cammock: Concrete Feathers and Porcelain Tacks Touchstones Rochdale – is a showcases the geometric individually interpreted,
text, song and performance, exploring social multiple-screen film artwork of Todmorden-based resolved and recreated in
histories and questioning mainstream installation in which customs artist, George Meyrick. their minds.”
historical narratives. and rituals preserved by group
members and their families
are performed in specific
Taking an eclectic selection of items from locations in and around the
Touchstones’ public art collection and archive borough.
– which will also be on display – a diverse group
including Rochdale’s former mayor, young
people, a local artist, a retired joiner, and a The films are also
Ukrainian women’s choir, were invited to accompanied by a bilingual
breathe new life and narratives into these reference book in English and
objects and uncover strikingly different facets Urdu, printed on seed paper,
of Rochdale. documenting the
conversations and texts
studied by the group.
Artist Jasleen Kaur will explore Rochdale
heritage and history from a different George Meyrick: Aligned Raised Lowered Offset Paired
perspective by bringing to the forefront the
voices of migrant communities within the
town’s social history, which have historically Touchstones Rochdale offers a wide variety of There are interactive exhibits, films, audios
been marginalised and misrepresented. exhibitions in the Heritage Gallery and the Art and objects from the borough’s collection
Gallery’s four gallery spaces including those on display.
During a series of online gatherings and from the local community, selections from the
conversations held by Kaur over a nine-month borough’s impressive art collection and work Touchstones opening times
period, a group of women and non-binary by contemporary artists. Wednesday - Saturday: 10am - 5pm
participants from the local South Asian Sunday: 10am - 4pm
community were invited to critique the
As well as the changing exhibitions spaces,
contents of the Ethnic Minorities section of the there is also a permanent museum which aims Touchstones Rochdale, The Esplanade
local archives at Touchstones, questioning how
to tell a potted history of Rochdale. Rochdale, OL16 1AQ
notions of cultural heritage are preserved and Tel: 01706 924492
considering the human body as a living archive The museum is ideally suited to visitors with an
and carrier of histories. interest in the history of Rochdale or families. Admission is FREE.
20 21 REAL ROCHDALE - WINTER 2021