Passports Please is the debut exhibition from Subtitle Labs. The fledging art agency was only set up in January 2022. Describing themselves as a nomadic, emerging art platform. The intention is to discover, encourage and invest in developing artists.
This was certainly the case for Passports Please. Choosing to launch with a group show full of emerging talent. The venue close to Oxford Circus was the ideal setting. Taking advantage of a pop up space on Eastcastle Street it’s an approach that hints at their future strategy. Find great venues, add great artists and grow from there.
Emerging Artists
For Passports Please, seven emerging artists were selected. The theme intending to explore to topic of identity through heritage and empowerment. Partnering with Stop Uyghur Genocide, it also aims to raise funds for that organisation. One which campaigns to end atrocities against Muslims in China.
The artists themselves are, according to Subtitle “carefully chosen, interviewed and selected based on the quality of their work and their passion”. It’s a strategy is then intended to lead to the growing of their roster of artists through the nomination of others. In doing so the idea is for a chain to be built, “Creating a community, within a community”.
Artists of Passports Please
Charlie Spot
Charlie Spot is a mixed media photographer. He combines street and light box photography through digital software. Once finalised he applies his works to unconventional materials, which are often found in recycling skips or antique markets.
Coral Garvey
Coral Garvey is an American Korean multidisciplinary artist living and working in London. Born in Seoul, she spent her formative years in the Caribbean, New England and New York City.
Divine Southgate-Smith
Divine Southgate-Smith is a British trans-disciplinary artist. Raised between Paris and London, she graduated Central St Martins in 2016 and is currently enrolled at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2019-2022).
Eve De Haan
Eve De Haan’s portfolio is replete with neon artworks, each sharing a different story, thought or catchphrase through short snippets of text. It’s an approach that she developed out through her studies whereby she encapsulates narratives through the written word. Through this she evokes collective emotions in her audience.
Ofunne Azinge
Ofunne Azinge is a Nigerian – British painter based in Manchester. Her work primarily focuses on the history of post-colonialism in Nigeria and its effects on black men across the diaspora and black masculinity in painting.
Tyler Lurks
Tyler Lurks is a recent graduate from Central Saint Martins. Their work is guided by a non-western conception of repair in which accepted historical narratives are reopened through painting and archiving.
Why Reuben?
Why Reuben? is an anonymous street artist with works across the UK. His work focuses on his youth and family, using familiar figures with darker undertones. Each of his works adds a sense of humour to a powerful subject. It is through his subjects that he is able to explore topics of loneliness and anxiety through an approachable art form.
Passports Please is the debut exhibition from Subtitle Labs. Featuring seven different emerging artists it ran from 3-5 March 2022 at 55 Eastcastle Street in London. All artist bios used in this article have been taken from Subtitle labs. Find Subtitle Labs via their instagram.
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