The Cultural Bridge with Komlaish Achall
Image by Komlaish Achall
In the Spring of 2022 Wolverhampton based visual artist and street photographer Komlaish Achall went to Lörrach, Germany to take part in a new research and development programme called The Cultural Bridge. The photography project between Kulturvilla Nellie (based in Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg in Germany) and Creative Black Country has been looking at themes of identity, belonging and place.
We asked Komlaish to share her experience of visiting Germany ahead of the Wolverhampton exhibition launch on the 9th July (details below).
Tell us about your project theme and photographs?
Lörrach is a town in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders and home to Milka chocolate. It is an idyllic, peaceful place for families to raise children and for older people to retire in a quiet and peaceful environment, but like many such places it lacks facilities for young adults. In my conversation with young adults, they expressed that they find work, education and activities of interest in other parts of Europe or further afield.
My Street photography looked at the demographic population of Lorrach and the surrounding areas, the clandestinely taken photographs show an older or ageing population, capturing older people in quiet and in isolation moments, often walking alone in empty spaces. What interested me was this feeling of a separation between people and space, I question whether this was due to corona virus or just the nature of the local culture or was my photography capturing the visible impact of the pandemic that people were still grappling with.
What did you do during your visit to Lorrach and tell us about your exhibition?
In Lorrach we visited a number of different places of interest, including the Truncated Pyramid Room sculpture by Bruce Nauman, an American artist. We visited Kultuvilla Nellie a cultural hub with a theatre, cinema and other facilities a number of times.
I walked along the River Wiese, the river arises from its source in the Black Forest but most of its course is situated in the county of Lörrach before flowing into the Rhine near the city of Basel in Switzerland. Along the River Wiese I took photographs of street graffiti to see if there was a political aspect to it, I found it was quite different to Wolverhampton graffiti; it was sharper, colourful, with quotes that were thought provoking.
My favourite visit was to the ‘Open-air gallery’ to view street art, which is almost a kilometre and a half in length, with 56 concrete pillars of the A98 motorway bridge, with a height of up to 20 meters covered in graffiti. The incredible art works are modern creations expressing views of our political and cultural times. Street artists return many times to the concrete pillars to express new views and ideas.
We had a wonderful opportunity to display our photography at the Kulturvilla Nellie with an engaging audience. The exhibition was curated by all 4 photographers from the Cultural Bridge Programme with support from Stephanie Staib and Lea Radikal. The press ‘Badische Zeitung’ shared our exhibition in their newspaper article.
Being close to the French and the Swiss borders, we were able to visit the exhibition at Kunstmuseum in Basel, and see the works by Louise Bourgeois and Jenny Holzer. As well as a trip to the outskirts of the Black Forest with a guided tour by Lea’s grandfather, who knew a lot about the forest and the surrounding areas.
On our journey back to the UK we stopped at the city of Mannheim, a vibrant space for creativity and street art. The city has a history of migrants and refugees, with a diversity of people, clothes, street food and cultural expression that was visible in the area and in the graffiti on buildings and walls.
How did you benefit from the experience, has it influenced your practice?
The experience gave me the opportunity to take photographs in a different country and make comparisons between the culture of Wolverhampton and Lorrach. It gave me the time and space to be able to concentrate solely on my photography and to take in the culture, environment, ethnicity, local sounds, smells and observe people in their day to day living.
The experience has made me look at my photography and the importance of liaising with other photographers around different methods of capturing images. It has also influenced me to observe how people interact with one another to be able to capture images that are more expressive and considered, to capture the deeper story.
Why is it important as a Wolverhampton practitioner to be part of opportunities like these that connect you to European programmes?
The importance of participating in opportunities like this is that it allows collaboration of ideas, perspectives and reinforces that we are a wider community than just our surrounding localities. This allows artists to see alternative methods of expression that then facilitates growth in their own practice. This is then shared through the work with other artists and with the wider community, enhancing cultural growth and experiences.
What’s happening next for you and your work?
Following this experience, the four photographers will be holding an exhibition of some of their work in Wolverhampton. It has provided me with perspectives to consider regarding the direction of my own practice and how some of the new experiences can add value to future work/projects that I do. The body of work that has accumulated through the Cultural Bridge Programme is available as a future resource.
EXHIBITION
On July 9 - 16 July ENTER will launch at Asylum Art Gallery and will showcase the works of all the photographers in both locations. By appointment only contact deborahstone27@gmail.com or komachall@hotmail.com to book.
Komlaish Achall – bio
Komlaish Achall is a visual artist & street photographer, community artist and curator; she has exhibited and curated at various locations in the West Midlands. She studied at the University of Wolverhampton and has organised group shows and exhibitions with local artists over a number years and is one of the artist residents at Newhampton Arts Centre. Furthermore Kom’s art practice explores the British Asian identity, cultural constructs and displacement; she expresses her creativity through a wide range of materials.
Website: http://komlaishachall.com/
Instagram - komlaish_achall
Instagram – out_of_darkness_cometh_light
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Kom-Achall
Twitter - @KomAchal
ABOUT: Cultural bridge is a new pilot programme promoting new relationships to support intercultural exchange and dialogue in the field of participative arts and culture between Germany and the UK supported by Arts Council England, Fonds Soziokultur, British Council, Goethe Institute, Arts Council Northern Ireland, Wales Arts International and Creative Scotland.
Kulturvilla Nellie, Lörrach and Creative Black Country are one of seven projects awarded funding to come together and explore connections.
CBC have worked with four photographers, Henriette Simons and Laura Ablancourt-Maynard (Germany) and Deborah Stone and Kom Achall (UK) who have looked at themes of identity, belonging and place and developed a body of work called ENTER.