These Fossils Are Our Fuel

4 January - 7 January 2019

William Bartlett, Jaf Yusuf

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Hastings / London based Artists William Bartlett and Jaf Yusuf come together to present bodies of work which explore a dialogue of their heritage of growing up on the East Sussex coast line. This exhibition of recent works opens up space for the histories of Hastings to be fictionalised, reimagined, or even perhaps re-told. Through video and sculpture Flatland Projects present ‘These Fossils Are Our Fuel’ to consider a new history for the 1066 Country.

 

“Of signs calling for a bypass.

In return they got a bus
lane. To get out of here.

Because if you watch the sea at night sometimes you see boats

Normans, french, turks. coming in.

When the sea finally overwhelms the coastal protection my hill will once again become an island.

Goodbye my mysterious friend.”

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I met Will 9 years ago on the 99 bus, there was no reason for us to have a conversation.

He was at school and I was at college.

Along with the other students, how I remember it at the time was that most of the other people on the bus were much older than us.

From that perspective we were much nearer together in age.

We would chat every so often, I remember we once went to WH Smiths and he stole a chocolate bar.

Before I left Bexhill College we talked about our plans for the future.

I wish I could say that this is when we started planning this show together.

We ended up going to the same art school 4 years apart.

This isn’t the future we talked about but I think this exhibition will so go somewhere towards retracing the steps that led up to it.

And then some steps before it.

 

Jaf Yusuf