Prize Winner

SaltSpace Award, RSA New Contemporaries, The David Harding Public Art Project Prize

School of Fine Art Sculpture & Environmental Art

James Arkwright

(he/him)

I am an environmental artist from South London. I believe in celebrating culture, the integrity of self-expression, and the importance of sharing ideas.

My work seeks to promote these values through public space intervention. Whether modifying existing infrastructure, or engineering something completely new, I am always seeking to connect disparate lives in alienating times.

Contact
jamesarkwright01@hotmail.com
J.Arkwright1@student.gsa.ac.uk
Projects
Carpet the Kelvin Way

Carpet the Kelvin Way

Carpet the Kelvin Way is a collaborative project between myself and Joseph Cole (Product Design) which reimagines public space using DIY interventions.

This culminated in an event on May Day 2024, where we installed 288m² of carpet on Kelvin Way, a road which was pedestrianised during the pandemic.

 

The carpet was all sourced second-hand in Glasgow and woven into a patchwork grid of 1m² tiles, each unique and with its own latent backstory.

In a time of relentless redevelopment, this project celebrates local history as much as it speculates about the dormant potential of public space.

 

Video footage from the day (drone footage credit: Calum Beag)

A game of football on the carpet

The old Kelvin Way road sign, relocated and reimagined

A bootleg Glasgow City Council high-vis, for invisibility

A flyer for our event made from carpet tiles installed on a billboard in Nitshill

The Saint Francis Pipe Band plays on the carpet

"The Fabric of Time" - every square of carpet used for the event