Publication to accompany Dionne Simpson's work in exhibition Cartographies at the Art Gallery of Peterborough, March 12 – May 2 2010, curated by Pamela Edmonds & Sally Frater. Introduction written by Edmonds, essay "(Re)Surfacing Modernism" by Frater. Colour images and details of Simpson's art works are included. Comprising over a decade of Simpson's work, she explores new configurations of space, subjectivity and power. Her work is influenced by mapping practices, the West African textile tradition of thread pulling, and portraiture in a highly personal form of pointillism. Through subtraction and addition, the works strike an intriguing balance between the contemporary and traditional, as well as between abstraction and realism. Not only does Simpson construct and deconstruct her own personal history in this work, on a broader level she decodes the very foundations and structures of modern culture, from art & language to community. Cartographies explores global modernity and identity as fluid and continually unfolding, brining the post-colonial and post-modern into dialogue. Simpson's multi-layered paintings are conceptual maps to be deciphered and explored.

Pamela Edmonds' profile page

Sally Frater's profile page