WIREDGOV

The Devon-based ceramic artist Vicky Lindo was awarded the top prize at the 2019 British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) for her moving ceramics series, the Dead Dad Book. Vicky received a £6,686 National Lottery Project Grant for her winning exhibition which explores themes of migration, racism and identity. Vicky applied to Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants after being invited to exhibit at AWARD, the headline exhibition at BCB. As a mid-career artist, the funding enabled her to work on her creative and artistic development without the pressure of making commercial sales. 

The Dead Dad Book is based on research into the life of Vicky’s late father, Michael Anthony (Mick) Lindo, who travelled alone to England from Jamaica as part of the Windrush Generation, when he was just 11 years-old. One day, whilst dealing with trauma and alcohol addiction, Mick disappeared - leaving his wife and four children. After not hearing from him in years, Vicky was told that her father had passed away. Seven years after his death, the family learnt that he had died alone in a wood in County Wexford, Ireland.

The Dead Dad Book refers to a research diary Vicky and her family kept whilst trying to find out what happened to her father on a journey to Ireland. Vicky hoped the art project would help her answer some crucial questions around the death of her father and to learn how Windrush and immigration affects people today. The project is particularly relevant to audiences that have experienced family fragmentation, addiction or alcoholism.

Vicky and her creative collaborator Bill Brookes were selected as the AWARD winners from a shortlist of ten artists by a judging panel chaired by Alun Graves, Senior Curator in the Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass Department at the V&A. 

Dead Dad Book is opening at the Burton in Bideford, one of our National Portfolio Organisations in Devon, in December 2019.

Click here for the full press release