ABOUT COMmISSION

Blow Up

As a child, Rob Hewitt wrote about his great grandmother, Sarah Jane Whitehouse, and her experience as a 13-year-old servant at Sandwell Hall in 1899. Blow Up is a reflection on how legacies of cultural deference inform the continued exploitation of youth today. Rob will recreate this story with dozens of participants from local schools and produce an explosive photographic moment, the results of which will be presented as a large scale image, representing the release from a lifetime ‘in service’.

This commission is part of the Forge Artist Open Call Programme which invited 12 West Midlands artists and/or curators to make new bodies of work for the Blast! Festival and take part in a mentorship programme.  

ARTIST BIO

Redhawk Logistica was established in 2008 by artist and curator Rob Hewitt as a collaborative artistic vehicle that challenges notions of authorship, ownership and authenticity and gives a voice to the individual. Their work is made to be experienced in public spaces and designed to be seen as part of a city's culture, contributing to the living mythology of place. Past work has included the production of ephemeral artworks, large scale events, socially engaged projects and pop-up public space interventions, most of which have taken place outside traditional venues nationally and internationally.