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Artist walk – Une balade d’artiste

Un regard alternatif sur Grandpré Artistes , traducteurs et résidents
30 Avril 2023

As part of my Arts Council DYCP funding for 2023, I created an experimental community engagement as part of my ‘La Vojo Returne’ project. Corinne Painter from Leeds University visited my residency to review how an artist can have a conversation with a place and its residents, and I made the most of this opportunity and invited both Corinne and Lara_Marie Hägerling from Braunschweig Universitat to give readings in German as part of the walk.

The walk was a collaboration of voices both local and distant. Postcards written during WWI were translated and read for the first time in the place they had been written, details and alternative stories told in locations infrequently populated, residents told stories of distant relatives, and the audience added to conversations, as we walked around the town’s paths and back alleys.

8 attendees were also given disposable b/w film cameras to document the walk in whatever way they felt appropriate, these were then processed on my return and I shared scans of the images with each participant photographer.

Click here to review the pdf of the accompanying booklet each attendee received and here the script used on the day – significant parts of the walk were unscripted by readers.

Grandpré has a small Secondary School, which services the town and surrounding villages. As part of this trip in conjunction with Corinne Painter and Lara_Marie Hägerling, we also ran a classroom-based postcard workshop. 2 sessions were developed to look at how the postcards of the town reflected on students’ understanding of where they lived. It was an opportunity to practice their english both verbally and written, and was a very dynamic session, German reading of the cards was also shared. We received very positive feedback from the teachers. This fed into a second session that I completed two weeks later, where a creative writing session in english on a set of specially insitu-printed postcards of archive and photographic images, was completed. The resulting postcards were then posted by me from Grandpré’s post office, to a list of artists, emigres and academics, who then shared ‘selfies’ back on receipt of the cards, so the students understood this early analogue type of social media and the nature of card writing.

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announcement: i am the recipient of an arts council england ‘develop your creative practice’ (dycp) grant for 2023

Extremely pleased to say I am the lucky recipient of an Arts Council England ‘Develop Your Creative Practice’ (DYCP) grant for 2023.

DYCP will allow me to explore a more experimental output to my practice: combining new research, mentoring & practical skills. I’ll develop inclusive analogue & digital approaches to visual storytelling & establish a network of national & international partners for future collaborations, building strategies to support the sustainability of my long-term practice.

Focused on my interest in place, memory & the messages from a WWI postcard collection, I’ll undertake a residency in the French town of Grandpré, Ardennes to test new approaches within collaborative engagement. I’ll experiment with live performance, audio & film installations & how these can build potential for digital storytelling platforms in future projects. Documentation will be disseminated digitally & via pop-up installations for feedback/critique to help build an important legacy for future social art projects.

I’ll research my core themes, including visits to archive La Contemporaine, Paris; Anti-war Museum, Berlin & Postcards for Peace. Dr Corinne Painter (Intercultural Studies Lecturer, Leeds University), Lara-Marie Hägerling, (Technische Universität Braunschweig) & Prof Matthew Jefferies (Programme Director German Studies, Manchester University) will provide translation expertise and cultural context to increase the conceptual rigour & build relationships for future commissions.

I’ll complete training in virtual platform storytelling & coding: audio production & editing; video techniques, editing & integration. Mark Devereux Projects will provide mentoring to reflect on my practice development, build plans for future projects & establish a strategy for new opportunities.

Image: from La Vojo Returne residency.

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photographs from the norwich cathedral hostry gallery preview

On Saturday 5th November at the public view, it was a wonderful privilege to have George Szirtes read from the collaborative text that accompanies the images in the book of the project. George modestly calls his text a series of marginalia accompanying the Gearing archive and my new responses, but they are a wonderful way to explore the edges of the work. Along with the readings, third generation distant cousins from the Gearing and Gower families met for the very first time as I brought them together in Norwich.

Thank you to everyone who came to the artist talk, the book is still available to purchase at the special price of £15 + postage during the exhibition and includes a free pack of extras including an A5 archival print of ‘Norwich Cathedral, dying flowers’ from the series.

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clarion sunday – 19 september 2021

Last Sunday I was commissioned by Mid Pennine Arts to make a series of portraits of Clarion cyclists as they converged on the last Clarion House just north of Nelson in Lancashire. The weather held fair and it was a privilege to photograph over 90 cyclists who celebrated Clarion Sunday. Many of these riders have contributed data of their journeys. In some instances they also photographed or filmed their rides for me to look at and consider for the limited edition bookwork I am now making. All participants will be included and many contributed their thoughts on the importance of the Clarion’s cultural heritage. This commission is part of Pendle Radicals, a wider look at radical thinkers and activists who have shaped not only the local landscape but the nation. I was also commissioned to mark these people and their importance with a series of stone etched panels. The Clarion panel is at the bottom of these images from the day.

As a devotee of cycling culture and fashion, I designed a special musette for each cyclist, with the declaration #I_Am_Clarion emblazoned on it – filled with Clarion and Pendle Radicals goodies. Now I will begin to reflect on the day, process the portraits and produce a lasting document celebrating the Clarion cycling movement and its Socialist roots – to be added to the musette! As the beautiful banner says ‘Fellowship is Life’, ‘Socialism the Hope of the World’.

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pendle radicals and songs of praise

My #I_Am_Clarion commission comes under the umbrella project ‘Pendle Radicals’ by Mid Pennine Arts, check out the beautiful etched stone panels I created for the wider project which feature in this episode of Songs of Praise.

The panels were etched for us by Scribblestone near Halifax, who worked on my previous Cambridge Rules 1848 commission. Using a warm local stone to reflect the environment they are set in, they mark key locations that are touched by Radical Thinkers from Pendle’s past.

I believe I get a small walk on part, but haven’t seen the rushes so can’t confirm this!

Pendle Radicals will be airing on Sunday 12th Sept at 1.45pm on BBC One and will be available to watch online afterwards @  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zp4l

Updated clip link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09vm2pb