What is
praya dubia?
Praya Dubia is a CIC with the objective of providing sustainable studio and communal space for artists in South London, supporting the growth of their practices & fostering cultural engagement in an increasingly inhospitable city.
Praya Dubia´s communal area will facilitate peer support, skill-sharing, and curated exhibitions that make contemporary art accessible to local residents. This will create opportunities for cross-pollination and strengthen South London’s cultural ecology.
After an initial private investment to fit out the arch, Praya Dubia will rely on studio rent, institutional and governmental funding to further develop the space.
You can read more about our plans here.
Praya Dubia translates to ‘uncertain beach’, because until the 80s they’d only been recorded as washed up blobs of gelatin. their hydrostatic skeletons burst if they reach the surface.
What is a
praya dubia?
Praya Dubia is the scientific name of the giant siphonophore, a deep-sea hydrozoan. It’s a compound animal: thousands of individuals (zooids) come together to make up one siphonophore (zoon). The individuals cannot survive alone— they specialise along their lifecycle to perform the functions of life collectively, growing into stingers or propellers or bioluminescent lights in a chain that has been recorded reaching 50 meter lengths. It’s thought pieces can break off and start new organisms together. They’re simultaneously transparent and obscure. We thought this could be a good model for a shared artists’ studio.
About us
Praya Dubia currently consists of a mother-daughter team. They wanted to work on something meaningful together.
Annabelle Chace is an artist and curator. She is using her experience working at and for art studios to create a good one that could grow with its artists.
Nathalie, who lives in Lisbon, lends her experience in business and project management.