As is tradition for Lakeside’s outgoing artist-in-residence, Kashif Nadim Chaudry bid a fond farewell to his time at the Arts Centre with a summer exhibition at Djanogly Art Gallery. And with chicken heads and giant hairy balls, he certainly went out with a bang.

But despite the name Memes and posters of Nadim’s face being plastered around the University and beyond, it’s not a case of the 36-year-old being all me, me, me. He’s not one of those artists.

“No, no… not at all,” says Nadim. “Although the interesting thing is, when I was making the larger piece, the height of the fabric panel meant we had to take one of the ceiling tiles off to fit it in. And we realised that my ego had literally gone through the roof at that point — so maybe there is a bit of me-me in there.”

In reality, the back-story behind the name is altogether more complex. A ‘meme’ is ‘a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation’ which is capable of spreading and perpetuating cultural ideas and values. And anyway, it’s pronounced ‘meems’ – like ‘seams’.

A Fine Art Textiles graduate from Goldsmiths College, Chaudry’s work has always been informed by his family, culture and past — and Memes continues in this vein.

“Making these mythical creatures enables me to think about the human animal,” says Nadim. “I’m really interested in the schism between the animal and the socialised human. I think that comes from how at odds my sexuality is with Islam — that kind of schism became quite apparent. I realised I was a gay man, and this God I was supposed to believe in, the religion said ‘you can’t be that way’.

“The work also deals with issues that have been passed down to me from my family; and to my parents from their parents.”

But what are the chicken heads — preserved, soaked in aldehyde for 36 hours, left to dry for three weeks and then varnished — all about?

“The heads are separate to the bodies, so you’ve got that schism between mind and body split. I was also interested in the idea of being hen-pecked, and that relates to family politics and has roots for me in family control. On a broader level, it also relates to societal and religious pressure and so-called taboos controlling the ways in which we should behave and live.”

And the giant hairy balls?

“I wanted to be very serious in this exhibition and initially a lot of people talked about it being quite comic and quite absurd,” says Nadim. “That’s a million miles away from what I wanted to do, so it was quite difficult to hear that.

“But all along I wanted giant hairy balls — and for them to be comic.”

The chicken heads are just a small part of a series of sculptural investigations extending throughout the three spaces of the gallery. Nadim — as the exhibition programme reads — explores ‘this notion of inherited value systems and of traditional acts of ritual and ceremony from the perspective of Pakistani and Muslim heritage, and more specifically from his marginalised identity as a British-born gay man’.

And while Memes is a culmination of the residency and a continuation of key themes, Nadim has also gained a great deal from his time at Lakeside.

“What’s really great about the residency is that it gives you a space where you can purely focus on your practice,” says Nadim. “The University is very supportive, not only in terms of finances, but also in terms of the people that you meet. That safety net allowed me to be very ambitious and explore more risqué ideas.

“I’ve also been able to explore new avenues in terms of materials and scale. And a big part of that has been subcontracting work. It’s opened up the city to me in terms of finding all of these creative people, creative networks — making connections with them.”

Nadim’s residency may have come to an end, but you won’t find the artist standing in the job centre queue — he’s got big plans for the future and for Memes.

“What I would like to do is to get this show touring,” says Nadim. “I’m going to put all of my efforts into that to try to exhibit Memes nationally and internationally.”

So watch out world: Kashif Nadim Chaudry, the chicken heads and the furry balls, are on their way.