Alone Together

Alone Together is an exhibition by three female artists Jess Bugler RCA, Leonie Bradley and Prerna Chandiramani which explores the nature of aloneness from isolation to solitude.

Leonie, Jess and Prerna are known as the artist collective SPIKED. They started working together in lockdown and through their shared anxiety began to consider aloneness as a spectrum with isolation at one end and solitude at the other. Solitude is a positive state of aloneness that many choose to seek out.

Leonie Bradley stated “When we came together as a group, we analysed the words associated with aloneness and agreed on a set of seven that became the foundation of our bodies of work: isolation, loneliness, alienation, disconnection, remoteness, seclusion and solitude.”

Each artist responds differently to the emotions along the spectrum. Their responses are interwoven but individual: Bugler using the theme of wooded enclosures; Bradley, the symbolism of keys; and Chandiramani, language and folding. The installation itself forms a curved line with the artworks creating an enclosure that can be entered and viewed from inside. The ‘solitude end’ of the spectrum is wide and inviting, the ‘isolation end’ tightly wound and claustrophobic.

Chandiramani states “The artworks are printed onto translucent material, evoking the fragility of individual experience, whilst allowing the viewer to see through the multiple layers reminding the viewer of the commonality we share.”

The exhibition will also provide visitors with an opportunity for reflection on our shared yet unique experiences of being alone during lockdown, by participating in the creation of a new artwork which will be displayed at a future venue.

Bugler said, “It is the ambivalence of aloneness, central to our human condition, which I have found absorbing and challenging as this project has progressed.”

SPIKED is an artists’ collective creating installations to explore communication and memory. The artists have each been awarded the Peter Reddick Bursary for Innovation in Relief Printmaking at Spike Print Studio, Bristol.

Leoni Bradley is a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. Jess Bugler was recently elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy and Prerna Chandiramani is a member of Printmakers’ Council.