“Without Borders” Wrexham Glyndwr University Academic featured in international touring exhibition

Date: December 2022

Alec Shepley, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology here at WGU, has contributed to a ground-breaking international touring exhibition, “Without Borders”.

The collection is an evolving digital project and physical exhibition currently on show at Meta Forte, Venice. Alec is one of 300 artists, across 22 communities, from around the world selected to feature in this project.

“Without Borders” seeks to remove barriers, create alliances, and connect with neighbours. It aims to bring creative people together, to collaborate in an international touring exhibition of works on paper – a collection of artists pages.

At the end of each exhibition, the pages are bound together to make a book and taken to another venue to be taken apart, displayed, and then reassembled before moving again to its next location.

The project was the creation of Heather Parnell and Jonathan Powell from Elysium, Swansea. It features works on paper by individual and groups of artists having their own 'display island'.

Jonathan said that the project encapsulates “the idea being we (Wales) continue to develop International relationships during these difficult times which will eventually provide further opportunities and activities in the future. I'm hoping that in addition to this, that collaborative online activities and International opportunities will take place and grow into new projects.”

The exhibition has been on show in Venice until November 27^th (the last day of the Venice Biennale).

Alec talks about his work featured in the exhibition:

“My work starts with drawing and often ‘morphs’ into something else – usually temporary and in a ‘between space’ -  between the individual and the collective, between purpose and play. In my writing I refer to the idea of non-place - a space that is not yet a place, or at least if it once was a place, it has somehow lost its identity within the master-plan and is slowly falling away from its institutional configuration. Through extending the language of drawing practice into a means of encounter rather than an end in itself, reality and fiction are intertwined within the wider field of action.”

“Hence my ‘Flag of Ecotonia’ – an imaginary (and Heterotopic) place between all others – it’s a piece of land in reality (in the Berwyn Mountains of NE Wales) and a place I call ‘home’. This piece seemed apt for Without Borders and the idea of a travelling book/works on paper project.”

The Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology are continuously engaged in dynamic projects. If you would like to learn from our experienced and talented staff, then check out our courses and our Fine Art degree.