New artwork to be created on the streets of Eastbourne

A new artwork will be installed on the streets of Eastbourne – and the Downs at Beachy Head – this summer.
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A new artwork will be installed on the streets of Eastbourne – and the Downs at Beachy Head – this summer.

Mariana Castillo Deball’s Waterfronts commission will take place in Eastbourne this year, from May 29 to November 12, as part of England’s Creative Coast.

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In this work – titled ‘Walking through the town I followed a pattern on the pavement that became the magnified silhouette of a woman’s profile’ – Mariana Castillo Deball constructs a narrative in three parts inspired by a ‘young Frankish woman’ whose remains were excavated in Eastbourne in the late 90s along with a number of funerary objects dating back to the Iron and Bronze ages.

Towner Gallery, Eastbourne SUS-200709-121802001Towner Gallery, Eastbourne SUS-200709-121802001
Towner Gallery, Eastbourne SUS-200709-121802001

Along the streets of Eastbourne pedestrians will discover a chalk stencilled rope outlining a jagged, unexpected route through the town that when viewed from above or via a map shows the profile of a woman.

Along the way followers of the trail encounter several sculptural objects embedded in the fabric of the street, each relating to the objects the woman was buried with.

A third element to the work takes place out of the town with the shape of a giant hairpin, one of the found funerary objects, as it will be inscribed in chalk onto the Beachy Head Down.

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In contrast to the nearby hill figure The Long Man of Wilmington, Mariana Castillo Deball’s geoglyph will disappear over time.

The artist said, “It’s an opportunity to do something that appears monumental but at the same time is very simple.

“It’s a drawing on a scale that I never imagined I’d be able to do, but which at the same time is not invasive and is made out of materials that will fade back into the environment.”

The outdoor artwork is a Waterfronts commission lead by Tamsin Dillon for England’s Creative Coast.

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England’s Creative Coast celebrates and connects the distinct, creative coastline across Essex, Kent and East Sussex showcasing the exceptional culture in this part of the world, drawing on the uniqueness of each location to give visitors a new and enriched experience.

According to a spokesperson from the Towner, Mariana Castillo Deball takes a kaleidoscopic approach to her practice, mediating between science, archaeology, and the visual arts and exploring the way in which these disciplines describe the world.

The spokesperson said, “Her installations, performances, sculptures, and editorial projects arise from the recombination of different languages that seek to understand the role objects play in our identity and history.”

As well as her planned art on the streets of the town, the artist has also delved deep into the Towner collection to discover works that have rarely been displayed and will present these alongside familiar and much-loved depictions of the Sussex landscape.

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The separate exhibition – ‘A drawing, a story, and a poem go for a walk: Mariana Castillo Deball curates the Towner Collection’ – runs from May 29 to Janurary 16, 2022.

Works include those by Wilfred Avery, Edward Bawden, Jennifer Dickson, Tirzah Garwood, Getrude Hermes, John Lake, Tom Phillips, Eric Ravilous and Kathleen Walne.