Daniella Turbin: A Place to Return To

26 Jul-6 Oct 2024

Overview

Daniella Turbin’s artistic practice combines long distance walking with photography, drawing and writing. In 2022 she embarked on her longest walk to date – around the whole of Great Britain. Setting off from and returning to her home in Essington, South Staffordshire the artist planned a route that would pass through every county and take about a year to complete.      

Daniella documented her daily experiences of the walk through analogue photography, diary and logbook entries and posts on Instagram and since her return home, has been editing this material into a book which inspired the new work for her solo exhibition.  

An environment constructed from paper and drawings has been created in the gallery space, using a monochrome colour palette informed by the materials of the artist’s practice. A large collage chronicling the journey is painted, pasted and drawn directly onto the walls, these processes making reference to the urban environment. Hand-drawn maps are displayed in groups, not arranged according to traditional areas or counties, but to reflect the different phases of the artist’s walk. Daniella’s basecamp – her tent and personal belongings have been reconstructed in paper and pitched atop a grid for a map drawn onto the gallery floor.  

The artist will be at the Gallery once a week throughout the run of the exhibition, adding drawings to the giant map grid the gallery floor – informed by the editing of her book about her walk.