Platform Alumni Artist Focus – Mia Delve

Mia Delve participated in the Platform Graduate Award in 2016 at Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth. She undertook her BA and MA at the Winchester School of Art (University of Southampton). She has been taking part in Boîte-en-Valise, an international artistic project taking place at the Preview Week of the Venice Biennale (Italy), Aspex (UK) and Syracuse (USA).

“I was delighted to be selected for the Platform Graduate Award in 2016 for my short film, Lunchtime. The experience allowed me to meet other graduating artists as well as the staff at Aspex, who I worked with to install the show. At the private view I was introduced to a number of people who both taught and studied on the MA course I undertook the following year; meeting people and making connections is undeniably a very important part of succeeding as an artist and Platform provided me with an opportunity to realise that.

“A few months later, I received a phone call from Joanne Bushnell (the director at Aspex) inviting me to be a part of a project she was organising in collaboration with two other curators, Stephanie James and Mark Segal, called Boîte-en-Valise. The project brought together three artists from the UK and three artists from the US to develop new work for transportation from Portsmouth to Venice and from Venice to Syracuse, NY. When Jo called, the three curators had already selected one established artist (Susan Stockwell) and one mid-career artist (Harold Offeh) from the UK; I was asked to be the emerging artist. Obviously, I said yes.

“During the course of the project I met with community groups and various individuals, conducting research and developing new work for exhibition at the Venice Biennale and at The Point of Contact Gallery in Syracuse. In Portsmouth, I shot and edited Sea Boots, which tells the story of my great grandfather’s collision at sea and during my time in Syracuse, I made another short film entitled Today’s Forecast.

“The project gave me the time and space that I needed to continue making work whilst studying for an MA in Contemporary Curation; without the schedule and deadlines, it would have been a challenge for me to make time for my practice. I met curators, artists, academics and students in Portsmouth, Venice and especially in Syracuse who have become collaborators and cherished friends.”

Image: Installation at The Point of Contact Gallery © Mia Delve, 2017. Image courtesy the artist.