I do not believe in ghosts. My interest in the exhibition Not Without My Ghosts: The Artist As Medium comes from how the artists chose or were compelled to create these images. I find myself asking the question: does the art intend to bring the viewer into the same meditative or trance-like state?
Walking into Millennium Gallery, my first impression is of an unnatural calm. The walls are painted what I wrongly assume to be millennial pink, a colour so inoffensive as to be neutral. On closer inspection, it turns out the colour is in reference to the artist Georgiana Houghton. Houghton created a spiritualist colour guide and considered the colour “a delicate pink… as a type of the Love exemplified in all the teaching”. This choice of colour acts to make sacred the space. A protective charm.
But are these messages from the beyond entirely benign or are malevolent forces at play? The works of Austin Osman Spare offer a more occult viewpoint. Swirling spectral figures, as if held in smoke, writhe and prostrate themselves like they're trapped in the paper.
