Accession Code: wu1121 Title:Gettin' Ready: Mele Date completed: 2023 Classification: Print Medium: Screenprint Height (mm): Width (mm): Depth (mm): Inscription: Location Name: Warwick Arts Centre Location Description: Cinema Foyer Location Floor: 1

© Courtesy the artist and Edinburgh Printmakers.

This screenprint is one from a portfolio called Gettin’ Ready, which celebrates the friendships that Christian Noelle Charles has developed with fellow creatives, whilst she has been living in Scotland. The screenprints, produced at Edinburgh Printmakers, consist of five portraits, one for each friend. CC started with a photograph, which she transferred to a screen, printed and then added layers of colour over the top. In some CC painted directly on to the screen, so each print was unique.

The prints were produced in a playful, experimental way. In an interview for The List, CC talks about screenprinting ‘You make these layered experiences when creating a dance piece; with screen-printing it’s all layers. Every time a new layer is added it feels like a piece of music, and I start dancing.’

The friends include the visual artist and curator Sekai Machache, the multidisciplinary artist Alberta Whittle, singer and performer Cass Ezeji, choreographer and performer Mele Broomes and multidisciplinary artist Saoirse Amira Anis.

The screenprints are part of a wider project called What a Feeling! / Act 1. The title comes from the song made famous by Irene Cara in the 1980s film Flashdance. The project included videos and audio recordings of CC interviewing her friends about racial identity, self-care and their daily routines and their experiences working with art institutions. Gettin’ Ready provides a snapshot of part of that getting ready to face the world process. In the case of Sekai Machache, we see her hands caught mid-air as they have just finished removing a facemask, whilst Saoirse is applying mascara.