This innovative exhibition on show at the Farsight Gallery, St. Giles, London from 3 -18 September 2024 blends original artworks, photography and history to document Jarman’s relationship with the land and nature at Phoenix House in London’s West End and Prospect Cottage, Dungeness.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         THE EXHIBITION Beginning at Phoenix House in St. Giles, Jane Palm Gold embarks upon a journey From Soho to the Fifth Continent to seek out Derek Jarman’s relationship with the land: at home in the city, Phoenix House in London’s West End, to living within nature and his garden at Prospect Cottage, upon the land of the Fifth Continent, his beloved Dungeness. Jarman once announced over the patisserie at Maison Bertaux, “Gardening is so good for the soul”. He might not have realised it at that time but a new chapter of his life was about to unfold at Dungeness, ‘The Fifth Quarter of the Globe’. Derek connected with ancient places, the land, with nature in London and at Romney Marsh and this exhibition explores the deep affinity he felt for these, his relationship with plants and gardening that nourished his creative work and eventually provided for him peace and a sense of well being. Derek Jarman: From Soho to the Fifth Continent began as an enquiry into Derek’s life at Phoenix House as part of Palm-Gold’s ongoing research into the history of St. Giles. Much like his ‘city garden’ at Phoenix House this interest soon flourished, expanding into a major investigation into the work he created there, into his diaries and journals about his life in the West End. Despite this research, Palm-Gold felt there was more to learn about his life there: the landscape he looked out upon intrigued the artist. There are features in the vista there that are echoed at Dungeness in his garden. There of course the posts, henges and sculptures were created using natural, found materials, the flotsam and jetsam of the beach; in London, his balcony view was imposed upon him -the grimy industrial features and fixtures of old chimneys, roofs and flying metal stairways jutted into the sky above St. Giles. A PLAQUE FOR DEREK JARMAN AT PHOENIX HOUSE! If Derek’s deep connection to the land and his environment inspired Palm-Gold, a further reason for creating the exhibition was to raise awareness and recognize him as a creative force that blazed within the landscape of St. Giles, to acknowledge that he is the missing piece to our community’s history. There is as yet no plaque for Derek Jarman at Phoenix House. It is hoped that this will be realized soon and we can celebrate and commemorate the important films and work he created there. Palm-Gold’s exhibition is a contribution towards that aim. The exhibition draws it’s inspiration from a wide range of research including Jarman’s diaries, Modern Nature and Smiling in Slow Motion and the accompanying narrative presents his thoughts and some of his life’s key moments. Contributors to the exhibition about Derek’s life are Jarman’s biographer, Tony Peake, his producer James Mackay, his assistant director John Scarlett-Davis and New Romney author Keith Swallow, who sets out the history of Dungeness and the sense of place for its long-established community – which Derek was welcomed into – dwelling within the railway carriages and fisherman’s cottages upon the estate.         From Soho to the Fifth Continent is the result of five years research by Jane Palm-Gold into the life and work of Derek Jarman. Alongside her paintings, drawings and prints, the exhibition exclusively features never seen before photographic works by renowned photographer Derek Ridgers, who captured Jarman burning books at Phoenix House and walking the land on the Fifth Continent.   EXHIBITION ASSOCIATED EVENTS: 7pm Wednesday 11th September: Farsight Gallery screening – Derek Jarman’s The Garden (1990)  FREE ‘Close to a nuclear power station, inside his modest, sparsely furnished home on the barren, windswept Dungeness coastline, Derek Jarman dreams. This intimate insight into Jarman’s inner world was beautifully shot on fragile Super 8 film with the help of friends and collaborators. Shifting from the personal to the political, it culminates in a near-mythic exploration of sexual repression at the end of the 20th century, movingly utilising a cast of iconic religious figures that includes Jesus, Judas and the Madonna. Increasingly ill by this point, Jarman faces his mortality with poetry and dignity.’ (Credit: BFI) 7pm Thursday 12th September: At Farsight Gallery, an Illustrated exhibition talk by Jane Palm-Gold: ‘Derek Jarman: From Phoenix House to Prospect Cottage’  FREE In July 1979, Derek Jarman moved from his spacious Bankside warehouse space on the Thames, to a tiny flat in Phoenix House in the heart of the busy West End. In this illustrated talk Jane Palm-Gold explores his life and work he created there and reveals information upon his, until recently, unknown ‘city garden’. We look at the series of life-changing events that happened to him in late 1986 that persuaded him to relocate to Dungeness the following year, where he found peace in nature and his new garden ‘project’ at Prospect Cottage. 7pm Tuesday 17th September: At Farsight Gallery – Screening of LWT’s South of Watford – Derek Jarman documentary and Q&A  FREE Screening of documentary directed by Jarman’s Assistant Director, John Scarlett-Davis which examines Derek Jarman’s life living in warehouses upon the banks of the Thames; followed by a Q&A with John Scarlett-Davis and Jane Palm-Gold.   Left to right: We Must Fight Against the Fears That Threaten Our Garden; In The Garden lll; At Derek Jarman’s Door, Phoenix House c.1979; A Hallucinatory Sunset on the Fifth Continent – all paintings © Jane Palm-Gold/DACS   RYE ARTS FESTIVAL 2024 THE EXHIBITION Derek Jarman: From Soho to the Fifth Continent – at St. Mary’s Centre, Lion Street, Rye, TN317LB Open 10am – 6pm daily FREE 5pm Monday 23rd September: An illustrated exhibition talk by Jane Palm-Gold: Derek Jarman: From Phoenix House to Prospect Cottage Tickets £12 from Rye Arts Festival website. Limited availability!