Abstract

A curated exhibition of materials from the project Sunderland '73: The People's Visual History, presented as part of Come As You Really Are by Hetain Patel at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art.

The Sunderland '73 exhibition had previously been exhibited at various community settings in Sunderland, Washington and surrounding coalfields and at the Sunderland Empire Theatre during 2023.

'Come As You Really Are featured thousands of objects created, modified or collected by hobbyists across the UK, and was shown alongside a new artist film. Each hobby represents a decision to commit valuable time to living life on one's own terms in a society dominated by consumerism.
The project began with a nationwide call-out inviting members of the public to share the activity to which they dedicate their spare time. Standing shoulder to shoulder with handmade submissions by hobbyists were new and existing works by Patel. The Other Suit, 2015, is a Spiderman suit crafted at the kitchen table over months, following tutorials on YouTube. It was presented along with Fiesta Transformer, 2013, a robot sculpture built from Patel's first car with the help of his father in the family garage in Bolton. Somerset Road, 2024, a Ford Escort tufted by the artist in the pattern of his grandmother’s living room carpet, was created for the exhibition. These time-consuming handmade objects directly echo the manual labour often carried out by migrant communities such as Patel’s family, while their hybridity points towards the new possibilities that emerge when we challenge and defy convention.

Come As You Really Are presents a variety of hobbies that showcase an individual's freedom of expression and ingenuity, and in doing so broadens our perception of who gets to be called creative and where the impulse to create stems from. At the heart of this project is a nationwide community of people whose labours of love are a lens through which the artist presents an alternative portrait of the UK.' (Art Angel: https://www.artangel.org.uk/project/come-as-you-really-are/)