This issue of Arty is directly inspired by Joanna Hogg’s 2018 film The Souvenir which centres on a young film student in 1980s London. The souvenir of the title refers to the word’s French definition, that is a memory rather than a keepsake as it means in English. It also directly references Fragonard’s painting The Souvenir in the Wallace Collection, which the film’s protagonists visit on what might be their first date.
The contributors to this issue look at The Souvenir or souvenirs or sometimes both. Pivotal to the issue’s content is an exhibition called Souvenir curated by Paul Murphy at Transition Gallery in 2003 (I helped out with its production). Murphy writes about his memories of it and leftover images from the exhibition are scattered throughout the issue.

As contributions to the issue came in the picture that began to emerge was of souvenirs as pieces of evidence – evidence that something happened or that somewhere was visited. As time passes these suovenirs shift from evidence to clues – pieces of a puzzle to be fitted together to reveal, or in many cases conceal, something that just might have meant something to somebody.


Cathy Lomax
Editor

The contributors to Arty 42 are: David Bradshaw, Rosemary Cronin, Luci Eyers, Patrick Galway, Susie Hamilton, Cathy Lomax, Alex Michon, Paul Murphy, Davina Quinlivan, Fionn Wilson

With Souvenir snapshots by Yasmeen Al-Awadi, Rocky Alveres, Chrissie Atkinson, Steve Bowbrick, Edwin Bradford, Amanda Bracken, David Bradshaw, Rose Bradshaw, Jessica Broas, Matt Burbidge, Giovanna Maria Casetta, Helen Cattell, J Clayman, Theo Cowley, Jane Croxford, Mark Croxford, Richard Dawson, Horst Diekgerdes, Annabel Dover, Catherine Dyer, Sarah Gifford, Andy Gollifer, Carol Ho, David James, Mesbah Kazmi, Sue Kennington, Calum F Kerr, Chris Koning, Cécile Krygier, Arabella Lee, Cathy Lomax, Lady Lucy, Scotia Luhrs, Nicky Magliulo, Nora Maycock, Alex Michon, Paul Murphy, Ana Nieto, Marcus Oakley, Sandro Oates, Nichola Ollis, Alain Pichon, Georgia Platman, Peter Robothan, Anne Rook, Hans Scheirl, Frank Selby, Kaori Shiota, Caroline Stevenson, Srinivas Surti, Mimei Thompson, Evdokia Topouri, Maren K Ullrich, Edward Underwood, Marc Wilson, Yolanda Zappaterra, Alex Zika.

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Arty 42 is available from Transition Gallery & the following stockists and costs £4


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Arty 42 + UK Shipping