José García Oliva: Welcome Isn't A Doormat
Printed Nylon Doormat
Dark Brown, white and blue printed text with a rubber backing
115cm x 85cm x 5mm
Printed to order
Edition of 30 (1 AP)
Comes with signed certificate of authenticity
Welcome Isn’t A Doormat was produced by José García Oliva in collaboration with the Metal team, trustees, and community partners in Liverpool, Peterborough, and Southend, to explore what it really means to be welcoming.
Together, via a series of workshops, we reimagined what a ‘welcome’ space looks like - not just in words, but in action. José led the groups through a paper folding exercise asking us to fold a piece of A4 paper every time he asked a question, for example, fold every time someone’s body language or tone made you feel excluded or you felt the space prioritised certain people over others. The simplicity of folding allowed the conversation to take place, With each crease, quiet stories emerged. The folding offered room for conversation, reflection, and the chance to truly see how spaces can either open up or close down to those within them.
José responded to the words, actions, and thoughts that came from each of the workshops, translating them into a beautiful, printed doormat ‘Welcome Isn’t A Doormat’ - one for each of our sites, and one ‘free’ doormat, to be used wherever our work takes us.
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About the artist
José García Oliva is a Venezuelan artist based in London. Oliva’s research-led practice focuses on collective making and exploring contemporary forms of labour. The outcomes of his work often involve enactments of social exchanges or provocations, shaped by cultural iconography, site-specificity, and the people he collaborates with. 24 Co-ordinates, 2024 is a two-year project born from conversations with security staff and porters about feelings of loneliness and invisibility, inviting 34 participants to collaboratively create a cyanotype artwork using their torches to trace constellations symbolising their patrol routes, blending themes of individual effort, collective impact, and the often-unseen nature of their labour. José is currently the course leader for the MA in Visual Communication at Ravensbourne University and an associate lecturer at Kingston School of Art and Central Saint Martins.
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