Artist & Video Maker based in Liverpool
Excited to say that I’ve won first place in the LCR Photo Awards 2023. I submitted 5 photographs around the theme of coastal communities and the climate crisis and 3 of them have been chosen for exhibition which opens tomorrow and runs until 23rd April. There were 1900 entries, so I’m pretty chuffed to have won the analogue category.
More information ban be found on the Open Eye’s website here.CR23
Testing out some small scale multimedia interactions around the work I’ve been doing with the Friends of Rimrose Valley Country Park in North Liverpool. National Highways would like to build a four lane highway right through the middle of the park to service the port of Liverpool.
This test work aims to look at what would be lost, using Cyanotype prints to represent local people in their changing environment.
Working with Artist Lou Chapelle. Holographic video projection in woodland settings at Knowsley Safari Park (part of Enchanted 2023)
Commissioned by Heart of Glass, Creative People and Places program by Arts Council England
With the support of Knowsley Safari Park
I was lucky enough to work on this commission with Colette Whittington, responding to the Tyneside Cinema’s Archive Collection. We created two installation entitled ‘Junior (Experimental) Film Club’ and ‘Lantern Projections’, which respond to the respective collections of film programmes produced by young people in the 1930-50’s and the collection of glass lantern slides which advertised products and cinema jobs before the feature films.
Our approach to the cinema archives was pretty open, preferring the stories to emerge as we immersed ourselves in them. However, a clear focus presented itself to us naturally as we explored; the many voices of the cinema’s people, the fabric and DNA of the cinema resonated loudly. These works pay homage to those people”
As part of our research we also ran a number of print Making and animation workshops with the staff which was a great way to meet everyone and get to know more about the cinema.
Tyneside Cinema’s Archive Commissions also feature audio-visual works by Adina Nelu which will play before main feature films, and a series of beautiful poster prints from Sofia Barton, all on display in the cinema now. Tyneside Cinema Archive Commissions are supported with public funding by Arts Council England.
2022
Double holographic projections and soundtrack in Thai-inspired wooden structure.
Commissioned by the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science at the University of Leeds and funded by the Arts and Humanity Research Council (AHRC), with extra support from Halton Borough Council.
I was part of a creative team led by artists Lou Chapelle working on the video element of the project, responding to work of other artists and community members involved, voices that are often unheard when we talk about climate crisis and extinction.
The artwork responds to these questions, engaging and drawing upon personal responses to extinction from diverse backgrounds and experiences (including asylum seekers and refugees temporarily housed at Daresbury Park Hotel, Runcorn and those supported by A Better Tomorrow and Trinity Safe Space, Wat Phra Singh UK Buddhist Temple trustees and dancers from Runcorn, Men Dancing from Liverpool, The Studio Writes and The Studio Sings groups in Widnes). People experiencing the piece are also invited to write their responses and attach them to the structure.
Other members of the creative team were:
Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies Dr Stefan Skrimshire
Composer and choir leader Jennifer John
Dancer Kali Chandrasegaram
Costume designer Rachael Prime
Poet Scott Farlow
Photography Robert Battersby
Project co-ordinator Louise Nulty
Production advise Dan Williamson
I was commissioned to produce some new work for the newly opened Shakespeare North Theatre in Prescott to tie into the ‘Serious Nonsense Festival’, part of Knowlesy’s Borough of Culture year.
I developed these two pieces around the nonsense poems of Edward Lear as well as celebrating the newly opened theatre. You can find out more about the festival at the link here.
A film collaboration with Lou Chapelle. Through a series of creative workshops,local creative practitioners and young people who live and study in Halton created costumes, dance, poetry, and sound. Together they re-imagined the Bleach Packers, iconic workers from the borough’s past, by creating a holographic video. The resulting artwork enacts a surreal Bleach Packer’s dream, in which he finds himself transformed, torn between chemical and nature. The work was displayed in different public settings around the borough.
Proud to be part of this short Dead Pigeon gallery exhibition with Homebaked CLT this last week.
I’ve been involved with Homebaked on and off for around 10 years now and watched it grow from an artistic idea to full grown community concern.
Jayne Lawless from the Dead Pigeon Gallery asked me if I would want to be part of a collection of artists who have all been connected somehow with Homebaked at some point towards an exhibition around the theme of ‘Home’ to be put together in an empty terraced house just down the road from the bakery.
The whole terrace will start refurbishment next year by Homebaked CLT after a successful bid to Liverpool City Council to bring the terrace back to life, transforming it into nine quality homes with affordable rents. More about that here.
Having looked around the empty tinned up house, I came up with the idea to install a video projection in the cupboard under the stairs showing different entrances to the River Mersey. It plays with the concept of how being in the water immediately connects us to the environment, nature and our place in the world. I also liked (given it’s location) the element of surprise and the possibility of entering other worlds.
All the artists included in this show (including opening night performances) have worked with or connected via both Homebaked CLT and the Homebaked Community Bakery, some have been bakers, board members, managers, counter assistants, highlighting the value of having artists on board at whatever level.
The exhibition is installed until December and can be accessed by contacted Jayne at Dead Pigeon Gallery. Details on the flyer at the top of the page.
Some press about the exhibition is below