Thompson Hall: My Life in London
Thompson Hall and Ian Wornast are currently researching and developing work for their Unlimited Emerging Artist Commission - My Life in London. In this blog, Thompson Hall writes about his experience in the lead up to the exhibition.
Thompson Hall and Lisa Brown in the studio
We chose My Life in London as the title because the exhibition is about what it means to be a Londoner. My work is about my research in my family ancestry and what I like to do in London. The places I go to, what I do, my life. The galleries and museums are places I visit quite often to find out useful information. I go to galleries to get ideas, I’d say they have been important. I paint the buildings and sometimes the shape of them and the architecture inspires me but they are not true to life. It is more abstract than that.
My paintings are a combination of the galleries in London and African influences from my Mum’s side of the family. In my work a lot of the African influences developed when I talked with Christopher Spring at the British Museum about African textiles. I explained about my family’s ancestry and how that plays into my life. The colours and patterns in my paintings come from there – it’s something I grew up around, wearing robes like my relatives living in West Africa. I grew up with a lot of clothing and material around me from West Africa.
I use colour in a way that’s very spontaneous, without thinking too much about what goes with what. I kind of have a plan in my head but it’s not really set. If I’m at home I tend to spend a bit of time thinking about what sort of images I use, or to draw. Sometimes I use colours to express feelings and emotions. I suppose it’s also to describe my personality: how I interpret the galleries and African influences in my own way, with my personal style. As I paint from memory, I have them stored in the back of my head and then bring them out and turn that into an idea and then that becomes a body of work.
Thompson Hall and Christopher Spring at The British Museum
What I’ve done in this commission is different to what I’ve done before. It’s very much about, you know, how I see myself and how other people see me. It’s more about looking inside. I’m also using new techniques and painting on new materials like blinds.
In this commission I enjoyed working with a friend, Ian. It made things easier – I didn’t have to work alone! I liked sharing ideas. There wasn’t so much pressure on me to think of ideas – it’s easier when you have another person to chat to about the commission. I also liked going to all the galleries together and finding new things to use for my work.
I don’t know what I want to do next… maybe after the exhibition I might take some time out for myself to think about what I want to do. I am thinking about doing a residency, something I wanted to do but I put aside for the commissions. It’s something I’ve never done and I’d like to try something completely different. Maybe I’ll experiment with new materials and move away from painting for a bit!
Thompson Hall and Ian Wornast’s exhibition My Life in London runs from 21 - 27 March 2018 at The Koppel Project Hive. To find out more please visit www.actionspace.org
