Verity-Jane Keefe: The Findings

Five artworks created by artist Verity-Jane Keefe are now installed in Shinewater and Langney. Using the bronze age history of the area as a starting point, _The Findings_ explores the value of the object and the everyday through modern archaeology and the public realm. Fragments and ruins are called upon to consider which ‘age’ we are living in now, what ‘public’ art is and how we make it via participatory processes. Verity-Jane worked with 60 local school children, Shinewater and Langney residents, and a local Eastbourne foundry to create the artworks from objects extracted during archaeological digs and at Eastbourne’s recycling centre. The locations of the artworks were chosen by the artist after observing the social gathering places and identifying gaps in the public realm – a former tree pit, a concrete footing of a long-removed bench, a concrete threshold into a playing field. The works have been installed into these gaps – the shapes left once the concrete and growth had been removed. The project began with archaeological digs in autumn 2023, where remnants of previous human activity were collected by participants of all ages. The objects were sorted and catalogued during workshops with Verity-Jane Keefe, archaeologist Jo Seaman, the Eastbourne Heritage Team and Towner in a retail unit in Langney Shopping Centre. Participants used the objects as material in workshops that replicated processes that would be used in the production of the final works, like tile making, rubbing, casting and frame making. Some of the objects were then cast in brass at a local Eastbourne foundry, photographed in the hands of people involved in the project and digitally printed onto porcelain tiles. The works are now installed around the local area in walls or on the ground, tiled into frames in colours taken from a palette developed by the artist of the local area. Each work is accompanied by an interpretation panel, sharing information on the participant, the project and some poetic text by the artist, developed as part of the commission. _The Findings_ is a new project by Verity-Jane Keefe, commissioned by Towner Eastbourne and funded by the UK Government. Verity-Jane Keefe is a visual artist working predominantly in the public realm to explore the complex relationship between people and place. She is interested in the role and potential of the artist within urban regeneration and how experiential practice can touch upon and raise ambitions of existing and invisible communities. The artworks can be found at Langney Playing Fields, Pembury Road Shops, Langney Shopping Centre, Shinewater Sports Centre, and Shinewater Park.