CCA Galleries International is pleased to present Labyrinth, an exhibition of new work by Will Lakeman.
Have you ever been haunted by a strange dream long after waking? Many people hold onto nocturnal memories that seem so real yet somehow impossible to describe. In a series of colourful visions that show Jersey in a new light, strange images and pieces of text are woven together into a fragmented narrative. The viewer is given these pieces of information in a puzzling order and invited to believe their own account of what is taking place.
Made through a process of meditation, deliberate misremembering and lucid dreaming, these images explore the idea that the uncanny places we visit in our unconscious might have their own life. They represent an island that is familiar enough to be recognisable, but skewed in ways that hint at something different.
In this half-remembered world subterranean passages run beneath our feet and vast buildings hide forgotten monuments. The sky is full of stars, but shining in the wrong places. Familiar locations seen from crooked angles hint at rituals carried out by figures who always remain just out of sight. At the edge of your vision a second island will appear, a warped reflection where cryptic signs are everywhere and any dark corner could open into a mysterious doorway.
There is much to explore, but if you stray from the path you may find yourself lost amongst the trees, or set adrift on deep waters that flow below the surface. Inspired by cult movies, impossible architecture and night-time wanderings, these pictures are an attempt to transport the viewer into another place beyond our own.
Will Lakeman won the Summer Prize at the Jersey Summer Exhibition 2021 and has spent the subsequent years creating new work for his first solo show here at CCA.
He is a writer, image maker and photographer from Jersey. He has autism and makes images to try and understand his intense sensory experiences and how they relate to his many recurrent dreams.