Alone Together : a spectrum from Isolation to Solitude

A collaboration by Spiked : Jess Bugler, Leonie Bradley & Prerna Chandiramani.

A response to the shared yet unique experience of lockdown, the installation Alone Together represents aloneness as a spectrum from isolation to solitude.

Loneliness is a painful feeling something missing. Whereas, aloneness, has a breadth of connotations from the joy of solitude pioneered by ‘The Picturesque Movement’ to the enforced state of isolation.

Each artist responds differently to the emotions along this spectrum. Their responses are interwoven but individual: Bugler using the theme of wooded enclosures; Bradley, the symbolism of keys; and, Chandiramani, language and folding.

The installation itself forms a curved line with the artworks creating an enclosure that can be entered and viewed from inside or out. The ‘solitude end’ of the spectrum is wide and inviting, the ‘isolation end’ tightly wound and claustrophobic. Translucent materials evoke the fragility of our experiences as individuals and allow the viewer glimpses of multiple perspectives on aloneness.

An interactive piece invites the audience to reflect on their own experiences and respond to the spectrum of aloneness.

SPIKED is an artists’ collective creating installations to explore communication and memory. The artists have each been awarded the Peter Reddick Bursary for Innovation in Relief Printmaking at Spike Print Studio, Bristol. This project is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. It will tour to Centrespace gallery in Bristol, Canwood Art Gallery in Herefordshire and MAKE in Devon in 2023.

It will also be exhibited at Oriel Mon in Wales alongside new work by each of the artists from September 23rd to November 5th, 2023.