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
-
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
-
Westward Ho! and Bideford Art Society Annual Open Exhibition
27 September 2025 to 02 November 2025
-
Earth Action North Devon: Explorers Create!
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
11 October 2025 to 22 November 2025
-
50 Years of the Signpost Magazine
Bampton Heritage and Visitor Centre
18 September 2025 to 20 December 2025
-
Dinosaurs, Dragons and Monsters
Bill Douglas Centre
29 August 2025 to 23 December 2025
-
Northern Devon Innovates
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
25 October 2025 to 03 January 2026
-
Wild
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
26 July 2025 to 04 January 2026
-
William Cobbing: Dumb mud, I love you
The Burton at Bideford
11 October 2025 to 10 January 2026
-
Remember Respond Resist
The Box, Plymouth
04 October 2025 to 11 January 2026
-
Carolyn Lefley: Ancient Sea
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
29 July 2025 to 25 January 2026
-
This is me Call for entries: Documentary Photography Open 2026
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
01 December 2025 to 11 April 2026
-
Call for entries Young Digital Documentary Photography Open
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
01 December 2025 to 11 April 2026