Dear Shaded Viewers,
The Cultural Institute at King's College London marks the 20th anniversary of Derek Jarman's death from HIV related illness in February 1994. The exhibition focuses on his life at the vital warehouses at Bankside and Butler's Wharf and the way his work engaged with London.
The link between King's College and Jarman is that he was a humanities student there from 1960-63 and went on to become one of the most important creative practitioners of his generation and a crucial voice in gay politics. As an undergraduate at King's Jarman studied the history of the Medieval and Renaissance periods, he later went to art college.
There will be 3 rarely seen Super 8 films from his work in the 70's that will be on a loop. His elaborate notebooks for each of his feature films and writing projects as well as personal and privately loaned material will also be on exhibition in order to contextualise his many collaborative relationships.
The German collector Julia Stoschek rescued Jarman's archives from decay and fully restored this cinematographic heritage, culminating in a wonderful exhibition in 2009 in her foundation in D
