The Silver Wave by Michelle Williams Gamaker
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
When: 20 October 2022 to 08 October 2023
Where: Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery Queen St, Exeter, EX4 3RX
Time: 10:00 - 17:00
Cost: Free
Suitable for: Any age
The Silver Wave, by critically-acclaimed moving image and performance artist Michelle Williams Gamaker, was commissioned by RAMM in 2020 to celebrate the theme of ‘Untold Stories’.
Inspired by objects from the Arctic region in RAMM’s collection, Gamaker tells the story of Ada Blackjack, an Iñupiat woman from Nome, Alaska, who became the sole survivor of a doomed expedition to Russia’s Wrangel Island, in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea.
The explorers were hoping to claim the island for the British Empire, but as the four men Ada travelled with fell ill and eventually died or disappeared in an attempt to seek help, she was left alone on the island.
Ada’s diary of this ill-fated voyage, are filled with thoughts of her young son Bennet, who she had had to leave behind in a care home. Extracts from this diary provide the dialogue to the film read by Iñupiat poet and writer Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen, from the Ugiuvamiut tribe.
‘The Silver Wave’ was previously displayed at RAMM in Spring 2021.
For more information about the artist see michellewilliamsgamaker.com
Exhibitions & Projects
-
FOOD: beyond the plate
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
22 March 2025 to 29 June 2025
-
Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots
Ilfracombe Museum
20 November 2024 to 01 July 2025
-
The Valley: Art on the border a cultural history of Marsland
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
24 May 2025 to 05 July 2025
-
Emma Stibbon RA: Melting Ice | Rising Tides
The Burton at Bideford art gallery and museum
10 May 2025 to 05 July 2025
-
North Devon Arts: Spring into Summer Exhibition
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
31 May 2025 to 12 July 2025
-
Get Me To The Church On Time
Ilfracombe Museum
23 June 2025 to 17 August 2025
-
Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes
The Box, Plymouth
24 May 2025 to 07 September 2025
-
Digging Deeper: Celebrating volunteers in North Devon's archaeology
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
26 July 2025 to 04 October 2025
-
Treasures of North Devon
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
19 July 2025 to 11 October 2025
-
Six Weeks To Go
Kingsbridge Cookworthy Museum
31 March 2025 to 31 October 2025
-
Kingsbridge 1939 1945 : The Image and the Place
Kingsbridge Cookworthy Museum
31 March 2025 to 31 October 2025
-
Battle of Britain Anniversary Exhibition and Talk Series
Exmouth Museum and Heritage Centre registered charity 291311
08 April 2025 to 01 November 2025
-
Jyll Bradley: Running and Returning
The Box, Plymouth
05 April 2025 to 02 November 2025
-
Coastal Threads: Textile Art
Fairlynch Museum Budleigh Salterton
01 May 2025 to 02 November 2025
-
Jyll Bradley: Life and Influences
The Box, Plymouth
05 April 2025 to 02 November 2025
-
Wild
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
26 July 2025 to 04 January 2026
-
Carolyn Lefley: Ancient Sea
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
29 July 2025 to 25 January 2026