In 2017, artist Anna Sikorska was invited to participate in Nir Segal's Outset Baker Street Residency. Sikorska worked on two projects as part of this residency: conversational canvases and SALT.
Sikorska worked on a collaborative installation of conversational canvases, a.k.a talking tea towels. The project began with a call for people’s old and unwanted tea towels. These were then printed in carved potato and textile ink, and thematically wandered through ideas of voice, cuisine and human relationships. They ranged between heartfelt, enigmatic, brutal and poignant reflections.
Sikorska facilitated and opened the space to create works on old tea towels with members of the public. The results were brought together in the installation at Baker Street, adding new expressions to the conversational collection.
The second project, SALT was an installation for the Light Well on Trafalgar Sq, at St Martin-in-the-Fields Crypt. A constellation of porcelain "buoys" – lit up like lanterns and scattered in the space like salt crystals – SALT brought together the people of St Martin-in-the-Fields in the making and hosting of the work. The innovative making technique was developed in partnership with ceramicist Katja Werne. Once fired, SALT was installed at Baker Street. It was a piece about belonging, separateness, networks of safety and bodily identity. It had many authors and one method.
RESIDENCY: 1st May – 30th May 2017
Anna Sikorska was born in London in 1985 and studied at Slade and RCASculpture. MRBS (Member Royal British society of Sculptors) Recent work has been for Sea Swim, national touring exhibition, The Gratitude Enquiry with Sue Mayo, Disappeared for the British Red Cross, and Man and Eve Gallery. Anna works as an artist for several homelessness charities in London and her practice is currently embedded in this theme and often of a participatory nature.
