The White Book is an exhibition based on the novel of the same name by Han Kang; an award-winning meditation concerning the journey through grief, full of poetic imagery and integrity.
Kiran Vaswani and Rosy Coleman met at the Hampstead School of Art and have frequently exhibited together. They both focus primarily on printmaking and often incorporate text and poetry in their images. Here, they take direct inspiration from Han Kang’s work, translating the universal theme of grief into the two dimensional and three dimensional.
Rosy Coleman is informed by the experience of living in different countries and working in mental health. Starting with an old mangle and a few inks she later acquired etching skills from evening classes before gaining an art diploma, continuing classes and eventually finding studio space in Brent. Rosy attempts to harness the creative ambiguity between universal and personal psychological worlds. She grapples with colour, texture and found materials until she finds some visual and emotional resonance with these and her personal history. Using various sources including text and personal interviews, she constantly evaluates the roles of the artist, the image and the viewer. Rosy has participated in various group shows, notably at Burgh House, The Printmakers Council, Southbank Printmakers and the Mile End Gallery.
Kiran Vaswani explores issues of identity and belonging in her work by examining landscapes visited and journeys taken. She builds up images through a process of layering text, etching and photography, drawing from nature as her main source of inspiration. Kiran has exhibited as part of various group shows across London, including the Royal Academy Summer Show, 2021 and Small but Mighty, 2024. She won the John Purcell prize at the Southbank Mini Print Exhibition, 2022 and was shortlisted for the Women in Art Prize, 2024. Though based in the UK, Kiran has an international background, a sense of which feeds into her work. She merges traditional Asian techniques and philosophies using modern materials and western influences. As a result, though her practice is contemporary, it is deeply grounded in context and history.