Wedding Ritual #2: Alexandra Westwood

Alexandra Westwood

lives in Manchester U.K. where she makes art in the community and works with artists who have Autistic Spectrum conditions. She has exhibited in group shows on the themes of Superstition, Re-wilding and Silence.

Westwood's collages were one of the primary catalysts for the whole Wedding Ritual project. She tells me, “making and creating art work helps me to disentangle myself from the difficulties of everyday existence. When people come together and share in the creative process we unify, we bond and we encounter meaningful ways of connecting.”

Here is Alex's ritual, in her own words:

Something Old

Death and the Maiden "The Missive, The Proposal and Transmigration document the gradual acceptance of death or

'Thanatos'. These works date back years but have taken on a new meaning in recent times.

They form part of an ongoing project exploring the struggle to embrace mortality, overcome loss, and welcome transformation." (click images above for larger versions)

Something New

Eyes Wide "This is one of my current collages made using limited resources during lockdown. I enjoy the challenge of making work that barely resembles the original form but still contains the essence. This image of children wearing V.R. headgear has been altered to resemble something akin to temple architecture. I wanted to evoke an uncanny, Kubrick-inspired symmetry."

Something Borrowed

A Week of Kindness

"Borrowed images form the basis of collage making. Elements of film, music and fiction often make their way into my work. The most influential, enduring and deliberate cutting techniques I have found were in a library book I borrowed: A Week of Kindness (Une Semaine de Bonté ) by Max Ernst. By re-purposing and re-articulating old book plates and Victorian illustrations, Ernst conducts a surreal overture and invites us to join him on an infinitely complex journey. It is at once unknowable and incomplete."

Something Blue

Into the Blue Again

"This work was inspired by the Talking Heads song Once in a Lifetime. Could status anxiety  overshadow the richness of  human experience? I see market forged, aspirational opulence as a kind of sublime and distracting horror. Advertising and social media encourage repetition and reduce all human emotions to 'Happy' or 'Sad'. Are we endowed with a full compliment of emotions or just enough to call ourselves alive?"

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Alexandra Westwood encourages support for the Together Trust and The Lowry, who "are doing fantastic things and sharing great projects within the community" - Alex supported young artists as part of this exhibition in February 2020.

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Wedding Ritual #3 will feature Sarah Mooney.