I’m not dead – Liam Jolly
28 February @ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Bodmin’s former Palace Theatre – now a charity shop – was once home to the town’s first cinema. I’m not dead draws connections between the site’s past life and its current use. By mapping the shop and its objects through film, the work explores cycles of use and renewal, transitional moments, and the ongoing evolution of identity. Reflecting on the decisions we make about what to carry forward, and how those choices were shaped by what was left behind, it reveals how meaning is continually in flux.
Practicalities: The site is wheelchair accessible.
About the Artist
Alongside being an artist, Liam Jolly has worked in the music industry for over twenty years as a promoter, talent booker and drummer. Time spent behind the scenes has given him a unique understanding of the mechanics, props, rituals and pose that underpin performance, and has fuelled his practice in many ways. Having regularly witnessed performers cross thresholds between everyday life and moments in the spotlight, he’s fascinated by these fleeting behavioural shifts and how they can be applied to materials, themes and context, including how audiences are positioned within the work.
Jolly’s practice navigates implied hierarchies between onstage and offstage, amateur and professional, original and imitation. He’s interested in how and when audiences encounter art, and the possibilities of shifting perception in unexpected ways.
His work has been shown in a wide range of sites including galleries, shops, pavements, newspapers, and rugby clubs. He is drawn to the nuances of each context and how they affect the dissemination, encounter and interpretation of the work.
Liam has collaborated with buskers, footballers, iconic drumbeats and second-hand car dealers, and has an affinity for found, undervalued and overlooked materials such as car mats, supermarket shelving and black bags. Using these recognisable materials and cultural references as a bridge between everyday life and the art world, he seeks to create encounters where the two meet. Through repetition and remixing, he transforms ordinary objects until they become something else, exploring the possibility of finding the remarkable in the seemingly mundane.
Drawing on his experiences of growing up working class in Redruth, a small landlocked town trying to shake off its post-industrial past, Jolly has spent the last decade running artist-run spaces in the town to provide a platform for himself and others. In 2018 he founded Auction House, which host a regular programme of exhibitions and events.
