When the Clapping Ends, the Caring Continues

A creative community claps

 

Ian Berry has formed a collective of over 20 international artists who all made their Clapping Hands to show their gratitude to health workers and others in this period. 

Ian has seen his hands projected all over the world after making two hands in denim with his son. 

 

Ian Berry I clap for

For the last two months his hands have been projected on buildings as far away as Colombia, Mexico City, New York, Sweden and Brazil and here in the UK on 70 different areas walls from Land’s End to John O’Groats, the most Southern and Northern areas of Britain. They were seen on places such as the Baltic in Gateshead, Edinburgh Castle, the South Bank Centre and the BT Tower in Birmingham – it was even on the white Cliffs of Dover! 

 They can now be seen with more artists hands including his sons, only six, who inspired the whole project. Elliott loved the clapping here in the UK on Thursday nights at 8pm. ‘It enabled us to be able to talk to him about it while he was engaged and interested. We could tell him about his auntie who was on the Covid team in Lund, Sweden and our friends on the frontline. He now sees the NHS workers as heroes and gets excited every time he sees the logo. That’s why I think the clapping is great, while I understand the arguments if kids can grow up seeing health workers and others to be respected then we have more hope for the future.’ 

Elliotts hand clap

Elliotts hand clap

Ian managed to get his projections to Land’s End prior to the last clap on the tenth week after the ‘creator’ of the clapping Annemarie Plas called for it to end. ‘I can imagine the pressure she was under when It got political’ Ian said. The night before Ian was also at a projection himself in Greenwich, ‘We thought fitting as time was running out just as momentum had really started’. 

Ian was starting to get back into the studio for his museum shows later in the year when a call came in, the clapping was back! For Sunday the NHS celebrates its 72nd year and have asked for a clap not just for them, but all on the front line. This was actually Ian’s angle all along, and this projection on the Angel of the North shows many of the answers to who do you clap for. Ian used the hashtag #iclapfor 

‘All the opportunities that had faded suddenly came back, and then more. A lot came in and led nowhere, no one sees all the time put in, but this week should see a lot of different projections and events! My phone has never been used as much’

 One that is a great development is that Ian isn’t alone, he had many artists submit their hands, traditionally one of the hardest body parts to make. ‘I’ve avoided them for years!’ Said Ian. No one wants to clap alone, and nor did Ian. The isolation was bad enough for him, and now feels a part of a wider community with artists like Dutch artist Max Zorn who sent in his hands with brown packing tape, Daisy Collingridge’s amazing creatures hands, Andre Veloux who makes his work with Lego and Kirstie Adamson who makes collages out of magazines.

Jess Wilsons Hans clap in Newcastle

Jess Wilsons Hans clap in Newcastle

 There were some really successful artists join with more traditional materials like Benjamin Murphy, Will Rochfort, Ruth Fox  and Saatchi’s “Top 20 artists to watch in 2020” Marcus Aitken. Illustrator Jess Wilson of Jealous Gallery made a bold one with a yellow emoji hand that is striking when projected. 

With Ian being a unconventional textile artist, he got many submit with textiles like Sophie Standing, Alice Kozlow,  Cas Holmes, Terry Aske, Béatrice Beraud, Barbara Shaw, Rachadi Zahira, Clockwork Press, and Juan Manaul Gomez and of course little Elliott who also got an added treat, a trip to the top of the Shard with his dad and be the only ones there! 

In the final week culminating in the NHS birthday it was shown in various sites in London, Huddersfield, Newcastle, Halifax, Shrewsbury. In Halifax it was at Yorkshire’s ‘Number One building’ The Piece Hall, for the artist from neighbouring Huddersfield. Ian famed for using denim jeans in his art and it will be shown in the region’s iconic old cloth Hall. They made a film of it with videos of people saying who they clap for which Ian has been asking in this period. 

The angel of the North’s projected final message

The angel of the North’s projected final message

‘By asking the question who do you clap for?, it made it personal, but also as well as getting friends and relatives answers, we got certain groups of people like prison officers, unpaid care workers and volunteers - many who had felt forgotten. We projected their names and I know there were many happy to be included when they saw it.’ Ian added.

 

It all started by accident, Ian’s son Elliott loved the clapping and it gave Ian the opportunity to tell him what was going on and who it was for – and to talk about their family and friends on the front line while he was engaged. He now sees the NHS workers as heroes and gets excited every time he sees the logo. Elliott took the photo of his dad’s hands and sat with him while he made it in his studio. 

Walthamstow wood street walls Ian Berry I clap for

He was certainly excited to see a mural made of it in Walthamstow, North London. He even painted a part of it with Wood Street Wallsand Atma. The painting of the now iconic clap was on the side of a Doctor’s Surgery and was liked by the neighbours. At 5pm on the Sunday of the NHS birthday Ian and ATMA clapped with the residents of the street at 5pm.

 ‘I know by the tenth week the clap had its detractors and I understand the arguments. But I have seen children engaged in this and let’s hope they grow up to respect the Heath Service, it’s that well used phrase, they are the future. We live in a country that made the court jesters kings and I think many are starting to see who we should value. And (laughing) I’m aware of the list that placed Artists on the least valued workers in this period.’ 

the pins of Pin Your Thanks on the Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, London

the pins of Pin Your Thanks on the Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, London

His son now proudly wears the Clapping Hands as a badge. Ian was one of the names behind Pin Your Thanks that also includes Kiera Knightley, Ringo Starr, Anoushka Shankar, Rita Ora, David James and Joe Lycett as a way of showing thanks to those in this time. They are raising money for NHS Charities Direct and Volunteering Matters and backed by the likes of Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Oscar winning Costume Designer Jenny Beavan. And it was all launched by.. you guessed it, a projection, and at London’s Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank. 

 

Ian’s no longer known by just art in denim, perhaps projections are his new medium. 

But as Ian says. ‘When the clapping ends, the caring continues.’

 

The dedicated Iclap website

www.iclapfor.com

Have your isolation photograph displayed in a museum

…And perhaps even turned to denim.

Ian Berry has been making isolation images in denim for years. Blue, 2012

Ian Berry has been making isolation images in denim for years. Blue, 2012

Ian Berry may have captured the world’s press imagination for years with his medium, denim, but of course the other consistent theme in his work has been isolation. And now he is wanting to see your isolation shots Behind your Closed Doors that could show in a museum.

The months prior to lockdown Ian had been planning photoshoots in some well known people’s homes, as his work is based on photos. The week of shoots was the first week of lockdown. Not ideal with two years of museum shows upcoming.

Compared to what is going on, he knows it’s not the worst thing but he did have a problem to find a solution for.

Ian became a professional artist after losing his job as an Art Director in the last financial crisis. The museum shows were going to look over this period of work (loaned back from clients) and he was complimenting it with new work that continued these themes.

Now we all find ourselves in isolation.

Some of Ians work on isolation in Behind Closed Doors.

Speaking with friends he soon realised many were photographers stuck, but safe, in their own homes. They volunteered to take photos, many were sent but Ian’s work is time consuming, he couldn’t do them all. He had also realised he was isolated in his own home and studio, with a camera.

‘It’s at times like this you realise what is in front of you and what you have. I had been planning on going to other peoples homes as well as returning to LA to shoot, ignoring what was in front of my eyes.’ Ian Berry

Your isolation images to show in Museum Rijswijk Holland

With seeing many great photos and knowing many photographers had lost work, like him, during this period he spoke with the Museum’s Curator Diana Wind where he will have a solo show later in the year and they decided they should show some at the Museum by The Hague in The Netherlands. Ian will then have further shows in Germany, Sweden and Yorkshire UK with more to announce.

‘Photographers and the public should be, and will be, documenting this period and their experience of this, so we invite them to submit their photographs during this period that will be chosen by the curator of the Museum Rijswijk Diana Wind and myself, and then displayed alongside my show but in a dedicated gallery.’

The work need not be as melancholic as Ian’s scenes, nor isolation alone, it can be a family playing a game, a couple both working from home or many on a zoom meeting, it is your experience. If Ian does see one that he can see in denim, he will have that conversation but the main purpose is to see your photographs and display them like that.

Submissions should be sent to mail@ianberry.art titled Stay Behind Closed Doors

You can find out more about submissions here and also follow the instagram page

You can see some of the early submissions above and also here.

Ian Berry in Isolation

Ian Berry is isolating in his East London studio beside the Limehouse Cut Canal and with his 2 to 3,000 pairs of jeans. Prior to lockdown Kasper Daugaard visited and filmed a VR in Ian’s studio and you can have a look at Ian’s studio where he is now working away.

And just days before the lockdown Debbie Bragg shot in Ian Berry’s studio and workplace.