Hannah's show is up
Hannah Taggart
Ghosts Of Borley
The Here Gallery is eagerly anticipating the arrival of ghosts this month!
Most of us can’t resist a good ghost story, but artist Hannah Taggart is more fascinated than most. For several years she’s been researching Borley Rectory in Essex, claimed by many to be ‘the most haunted house in England’ until it was destroyed by fire in 1939. While it was inhabited, a succession of residents and visitors reported seeing ghosts, experiencing poltergeist activities, finding spectral writing on the walls and hearing strange noises. And events took an even more grisly turn when a brown paper parcel containing the skull of a young woman was found in a cupboard in 1927.
Hannah Taggart has a long-standing interest in the macabre and sinister, as well as the abandonment and eventual decay of houses, so the notorious house naturally appealed. Her obsession with Borley Rectory has resulted in a large and diverse body of art, which is being shown at the Here Gallery in Bristol from the 6th to the 27th March.
Hannah has brought the rectory back to life by wallpapering the entire gallery with black and white photocopied drawings inspired by old photographs that show the rectory wallpaper. The results form a stunning backdrop for the rest of her investigation into the alleged paranormal activity. A doll’s house made from cardboard and meticulously furnished with handmade items is shown next to its companion piece; a film of the artist’s pet rats climbing through it and chewing the contents. Large moveable scrolls record séances held in the rectory, while a series of hand drawn maps detail the location and type of the haunting incidents. A sound piece, a hand drawn flick book, the artist’s sketchbooks and an animation complete the exhibition.
Hannah Taggart says of her work; “Human experience of time is limited in the ‘grand scheme’, our lease will soon run out and leave the space we inhabited open for others to infiltrate… The house and its rooms would appear to have fixed boundaries, but of course, ghosts walk through walls, and so does time.”
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I’ve been working on this show for the past couple of months. I've been acting as the Here Gallery liaison, it's not quite as full-on as curating but it's still a lot of work. I wrote the press release, designed the flyer using one of Hannah's drawings, had regular meetings with Hannah and did various other things that needed doing.
The private view was tonight and it went really well: the gallery space looks fabulous all covered in the hand drawn wallpaper, we had a steady stream of intrigued visitors and Hannah was happy with the turnout. If you're local to Bristol you should definitely check it out, if not there should be some images up on the gallery flickr site in the next couple of days.
I’m hugely relieved to be more or less finished at the gallery now. There are a few loose ends to clear up but in theory I’m now free to start my sabbatical and get some decent rest. Of course, whether I actually do it or not is another matter entirely - resting isn't my best thing! I’m keen to get back to my own work and I’m in the midst of a bit of a spring clean and decluttering session but I will have to make time for some R&R first because I can feel that I’m close to an ME collapse again.