Viral Portrait

Viral Portrait (manipulated digital image, 2008)

This is the first image produced from a body of works entitled Dark Matter. The works incorporate digitally manipulated external bodily features re-appropriated to create fictional micro/macro organisms. Using medical points of reference to create a visual distraction from the unnatural construction of the image. The images in the series are based around studies of viruses, bacteria and nano agents, things which are invisible to the naked eye, so small that they are almost incomprehensible. Organisms which are specifically engineered, either by nature or by man to infect or heal, damage or repair at a cellular level.

Triparks Residency

I am currently working as artist in residence in Northumberland National Park and have been contributing to a blog to fully document this period of work but will also add key information to this blog.

Triparks

a project of Aune Head Arts
with Somerset Art Week and Allenheads Contemporary Arts

Rural communities are re-making and re-defining themselves in ways that challenge many fundamentals about life in the countryside. Traditional agriculture is under threat of extinction, while small specialist food producers thrive and take back the means of distributing their produce. This is a period of destruction and re-building that leaves many voices unheard and villages and communities feeling vulnerable and uncertain about their futures.

Art can rarely solve these issues, but it can highlight them. Six artists will spend several weeks in the parks from which they will develop a series of artworks reflecting some aspect(s) of the places and lives they encounter. Artists are chosen not only for the quality of their work but for their ability to work engagingly and sensitively with people and with communities. This project is unique in looking at three diverse rural places, defined by political boundaries. Each place is distinctive, and the project will open a window on the differences and similarities of working and living within a protected landscape.

Grimmer & Steele Trust

"We provide perceptual augmentation and sensory respite for individuals engaged in the appreciation of the arts. Operating on the periphery of ‘actual’ events to respond to moments of panic, dislocation and apathy. Our aim is to re-open the eyes through nurturing, care and convalescence."

Grimmer & Steele Trust

I have been collaborating wth visual artist Francesca Steele since February this year on a project based around ideas of care and convalescence. The work has developed through a series of process based performance experiments, at NRLA, Glasgow MAP live, Carlisle and Arnolfini, Bristol. We have just had some photographs taken at Waygood Gallery and Studios by Ian Clarke and have come up with the name 'Grimmer & Steele Trust' for our collaboration. The work aims to operate somewhere at the point where genuine care becomes a vulgar display, anaesthetising the viewer but also provoking feelings of disquiet. We are interested in exploring: rehab, group and individual therapies, religion and cults, self-help and hypnotherapy and have begun wearing red uniforms as a trademark.

Performance Etiquette

Etiquette (one-to-one performance, 2008)

This shows the original plan for performance set up and an image of the actual set up captured at the Performance Time Festival. A 9 day festival of live art hosted by an organisation based in Istanbul, Turkey called GalataPerform. The work was performed in March this year as part of a group exchange organised by performance artist Carole Luby. The exchange was funded by Arts Council England, North East.

The work manipulates a very simple set of performative codes of conduct to consider structured interaction. I was interested in setting up a situation where the usual performer/spectator relationship, and the balance of power shifted. Considering the formally accepted etiquette of clapping - often completely inappropriately - at the end of a performance or piece of live art. Someone mentioned to me that clapping at the end of a performance originated in some cultures as a way to ward off evil spirits, as though silence itself was a dangerous thing. This has interesting comparisons in our culture, as silence, is something a lot of people have a problem with. Silence when in company is reserved for your very closest friends and family members. Maybe we use clapping in performance in similar ways, to mask ‘uncomfortable’ silence, perhaps to chase away our personal demons, make ourselves feel better or feel accepted, feel like part of an understanding group. Maybe we are simply playing our role as the viewer.

Interestingly enough I was able to chat informally with many of the Turkish people who had participated in the work immediately afterward. It transpired that the cultural differences between Turkey and the UK had completely altered the reading of the work. Though I had always been aware that the work would be a slightly uncomfortable experience for the viewer and myself I had not expected what actually happened. I have used the word 'interrogation' before to describe the primary focus or intended area of study within the work. However, the Turkish police force and their methods of questioning obviously charge the word with much greater significance for the Turkish people. Many of the individuals who I spoke to recounted very strong feelings of fear, all caught up with the idea of being interrogated by the police. Apparently in Turkey, questioning (interrogation) can happen randomly and was described as being almost like torture. Feedback was translated to me from a Turkish girl who said she had always dreamed of being in the spotlight, up on stage performing, but when the work placed her in this position all she felt was panic and discomfort.