“The final year Curating students at Manchester School of Art present an exhibition that explores kitsch as a theme within contemporary art practices. Artists responded to our open call to submit work associated with Kitsch and with over forty submissions we have selected work from eighteen artists, managing in true maximalist style to squeeze them into AIR Gallery's Micro Gallery space. The exhibition celebrates the love, hate, nausea, and irony of kitsch, showing work from mid-career and emerging artists -including students studying at Manchester School of Art. The show is co-curated as a collective that brings everyone's areas of expertise to the table turning this space into an inaugural and diverse show.

The origin of the word kitsch is contested, it was popularly used at the end of the 19th Century in Austria and Germany to describe something being made cheaply. Once introduced to describe the technological and artistic developments of the 20th century the word stuck. The 50's becomes the era of kitsch, plastic could be moulded into every imaginable shape, things are made cheaper which makes them more accessible. Kitsch is injected with pop culture and humour, it has altered throughout time with nostalgia becoming a highly profitable commercial trend and as we move into a digital age kitsch has intersected with the internet, taking on digital forms, such as glitch kitsch. Kitsch is an enduring phenomenon designed to make you feel better and challenges attitudes around what constitutes 'high art' or bad taste. Enjoy whatever you like, it doesn't matter if someone else thinks its ugly because ultimately it's all a matter of taste.”

‘FLOWERS IN HER EYES,’ was my contribution to the exhibition, and was inspired mostly by my nana’s garden colour palette and the strange garden gnomes she often displayed besides the arrangements.