The gory new work of Andrea Hasler is half of the joint exhibit Embrace the Base currently at Britain’s New Greenham Arts. The gory sculptural works are primarily tents that appear to be made of flesh and other bodily material. Blood even appears to seep from the entrance of one of the tents (don’t worry – she actually creates the sculptures from wax). Beyond her art’s shocking initial impact, it also references a local historical context. “Metaphorically I am taking the notion of the tents which were on site during the Women’s Peace Camp, as the container for emotions and ‘humanise’ these elements to create emotional surfaces”, she says. In the early 1980’s the area saw a huge peace protest involving tens of thousands of women. At one point up to 70,000 protesters set up several peace camps, some lasting for years, protesting the American nuclear weapons stored there.
