Not for Navigation at The International 3
Polly Checkland Harding
The highlight of Not for Navigation, a solo exhibition by Spanish-born artist Hondartza Fraga at The International 3, looks set to be the inaugural presentation of Fraga’s major project 365 Globes. From 1 January – 31 December 2015, the artist created one A5 pencil drawing of a globe of the earth per day, all of which will be on show at the gallery. The installation is the focal point of a show that thinks about our individual and collective relationship to landscape – spatially, temporally, emotionally and culturally. Through new and existing works, Fraga examines the distances – literal and metaphorical – between ourselves and everything, or everyone, else.
The exhibition takes its title from the inscriptions found on maps that are intended to be illustrative, rather than functional, suggesting that Fraga’s output is intended to be descriptive (like contour lines), rather than prescriptive (like directions). Two large-scale drawings will also be on display – Mappa (Hemispheres) and Blank Orrery – both of which investigate the act of mapping. The preoccupations of this show echo that of Miniature World at Castlefield Gallery, a group exhibition in which Fraga also appears; both shows encourage us to think about the world we live in a little differently.
