onionbagblog

Strange Lights (still), Joe King and Rosie Pedlow.

The clear blue moon lighting up the Wivenhoe skyline of late led me towards @Uni_of_Essex on Thursday evening. Nothing spiritual, or even cosmic about having the Harvest Moon as my guiding light – the front light on my Moulton is buggered, and the big bright light radiating down Boundary Road did the business.

But anyway, once upon campus and I had the Arts Exchange in my radar once again. Thursday evening was the opening night of Strange Lights – a mixed media exhibition that explores many different themes from the strange lights that we often see up above.

There’s a very local connection on two counts – Strange Lights is the current work of Wivenhoe locals Joe King and Rosie Pedlow. More specifically, the kaleidoscope of film, photography and audio is all related to an unexplained incident that took place at nearby Rendlesham Forest across the county border in Suffolk.

Once inside the University gallery space and the installation plays out before you in a continuous loop. What you can see is a series of stills and moving images, all suggesting that something is not quite right in the skies up above. It reminded me of my journey cycling along Colchester Road some ten minutes en route to the exhibition.

Add into this an audio soundtrack that deliberately doesn’t give away the complete story, and I was left with a slight chill as I contemplated the bike ride back to base.

Being the opening of the exhibition, and a generous crowd was in attendance to discuss the work with Joe and Rosie. Equally generous was the offering of red wine. A buzz of appreciation and conversation filled the evening. I can imagine that Strange Lights will take on a different experience when viewed alone and in silence.

I had an informative chat with Joe, who ever true to his artistic form, still managed to play around with the myth and reality of the unexplained incident that his and Rosie’s exhibition portrays.

I note that the Full Moon peaks sometime this weekend, just as the Wivenhoe Pantomime hits its peak. Plenty of explaining to carry out there…

Strange Light by Joe King and Rosie Pedlow is on view at Art Exchange, University of Essex, from 17th January until 19th February. Admission is free. Probably best not to walk through Wivenhoe Wood on the way home.

•