Beth Bate
Photo: Erika Stevenson; courtesy of Dundee Contemporary Arts
If you could live with just one work of art, what would it be?
Friendship by Agnes Martin. The first time I saw it was at Tate Modern. I remember walking into the room and slightly losing my breath. It was such an incredibly powerful but very calming piece. I was brought up with a Welsh Methodist background and I remember first going to Catholic churches when I was studying art history and I’d never seen such beautiful, wild, incredible works of art in religious spaces. Seeing these layers of gold leaf in the Martin really connected me back to that.
Which cultural experience changed the way you see the world?
When I was 14, my dad took me to see the Pop art exhibition at the Royal Academy. It had all the big hits—the Warhols, Blake, Ruscha and Oldenburg. For a 14-year-old to come across giant silver pictures of Elvis and soft sculptures and images from advertising—I’d never imagined that this is what art could be! It seemed really fresh and exciting.
Which writer or poet do you return to the most?
I’m a habitual re-reader of George Eliot’s Middlemarch, which I studied at school and at university and absolutely adore. And maybe this has just become more heightened over the last few months with funding crises and the slightly terrifying political climate that we live in, but I was bought a book by a friend called The Book of Delights by Ross Gay. It’s about him finding small moments of joy and connection and inspiration every single day.
What music or other audio are you listening to?
I was extremely excited that The Cure launched a new album. I’ve been a huge fan since my teenage goth years.
What are you watching, listening to or following that you would recommend?
I love the Instagram feed of Lubaina Himid. She documents her work and her travels in a really warm and beautiful way.
What is art for?
The possibility of connections. That’s connecting back in with ourselves, with those around us, and also with people and ideas that might be extremely new to us.
• Helen Cammock, Ingrid Pollard and Camara Taylor, Dundee Contemporary Arts, 7 December-23 March 2025
