Emma Bentley Fox

Art Hostel Commission

In 2020 I was selected out of over 200 proposals to develop a commission and installation for East Street Art’s new Art Hostel. 

My room - The Honeymoon Suite - is a private twin room, with two single beds & a private ensuite shower room, epoxy resin floor with found objects, original and custom wallpaper, letter writing chest & prompt, and curated selection of VHS tapes and TV.

Responding to objects, stories and traces from the previous inhabitants of the building (which before it’s purchase and redevelopment, had been social housing) I created a soft, welcoming space for guests to stay overnight in the new Art Hostel, exploring intimacy, relationships, dependency and nostalgia. 

I was particularly interested in the ephemera left behind in the room by a couple, and the stories local neighbours told of them, incorporating some of this into the final installation in the form of custom-designed wallpaper, framed sections of original wallpaper, and a clear resin floor with love notes, found items and ephemera sealed into it. Residents and staff related stories of the living conditions and landlord being at times challenging. It was important also to consider the privacy and respect for previous inhabitants, and so much was anonymised.

“Leeds based artist Emma Bentley Fox has used this room to create a warm, nostalgic and hopeful space. Wanting to avoid using clichés around heteronormative romantic narratives, she is interested in representing co-dependency, independence, platonic love, and queer relationships, with nods and allusions to queer culture and tokens of ‘broken’ relationships, that our visitors might recognise and see themselves reflected in. Her use of second hand items and personal and found artefacts asks the question 'what can objects tell us about their owners?'. She also explores the queering/subversion of ‘kitsch’ items and imagery, questioning specifically typically ‘British’ taste and class. She uses preloved items, items considered ‘trashy’ to create a space and artefacts, that is - in some ways - considered ‘tasteful’. Emma has used a range of materials, texture & colours to create a sensory experience,  that the room may be experienced & enjoyed in more ways than one.”

Features:

• Twin room ( 2x single beds)

• Custom Risograph-printed, recycled wallpaper, incorporating elements of existing wallpaper

• Epoxy Resin flooring containing found, collected and created items

• TV & VHS tapes selected by the artist

Book your stay here.