This week Friends of Dorothy- a gallery foregrounding the work of queer artists- is showing a selection of my work, alongside text transcribed from our Zoom conversations.
I met FOD curator Rob at a physical exhibition in his Manchester home a couple of years ago, during an exhibition of paintings there by the iconic and indescribable David Hoyle (linking to their Wiki page here, as it gives the best overview I can find!), and photographer, Lee Baxter, who was showing some stunning, and intensely queer images of flowers and plants.
Since then we’ve stayed in touch online, and whilst Rob transitions between living and working in Manchester and LA, he has been using the Friends of Dorothy instagram to curate online exhibitions of queer artists and their conversations.
It was a little intimidating but great to talk informally with Rob about my work, and how it intersects with the various facets of my identity. Looking over work I’ve created over the past 5 or 6 years was certainly more revealing than I considered it would be!
Anyway, jump on over to the Friends of Dorothy instagram and look over their exhibitions so far, and see mine as it is revealed over the next month.
Other stuff
Following my (still overwhelming!) news of being a successful Arts Council DYCP grant recipient, I’ve been deep in prep and research mode.
I’ve been reading about the concept of Umwelt, coined by biologist Jakob Von Uexküll, which- simply put- can be described as an organism's unique sensory world. This has led me into some interesting tributaries such as how Elizabeth Grosz explores it in ‘Chaos, Territory, Art: Deleuze and the Framing of the Earth’ and more scientifically in Ed Yong’s ‘An Immense World: How animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us’.
At this stage, I’m just enjoying reading and learning about ideas that intrigue me, and seeing where that road takes me.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been drawing and making maquettes of small, imaginary organs, and thinking about how these might work and what they might do. My work often returns to the inner workings of bodies, and as someone experiencing multiple health-issues, exploring the body in this way somehow offers me a way to process and appreciate them in a different light.
Not sure where this is heading yet, but will update again soon..!
Exhibitions and news from my biome
I’ve mentioned this before, but I enjoy looking at the idea of a ‘creative community’ more as a ‘biome’, eg:
‘…a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate.’
With that in mind, here’s some updates from my biome.
The current ‘Community Takeover’ exhibition at Phoenix Gallery (till 17 Sept) is really worth a look. I often get frustrated when community art exhibitions are curated in a way that really limits the impact and importance of works on show. This exhibition is carefully and sensitively curated, covering a wide range of topics in a cohesive way. I was really moved by some of this pieces and recommend a visit if you can. Also on show is the Platform Graduate Award show, worth a look too.
‘Manifestations’ curated by the excellent Laurence Hill, is at Attenborough Centre 21-23 Sept, and includes work by some really exciting artists “exploring themes such as trans revolutions, sex work, the disabled body and queer futures.” (pssst, also I’ll be DJing at the opening on the 20th!)
Last but not least, my brilliant friend and long-term collaborator Frankie is crowdfunding for her second year of art school at West Dean College. As well as continuing to work full time as a life model, she’s been making such thought-provoking work, exploring themes as diverse as (though perhaps not as unrelated as we think) the body, sustainability, the financial pricarity of artists, through specialist craft skills and increasingly, using digital spaces. She’s also having a baby in December, so will have further commitments to balance! If you can, please donate to her gofundme.
And finally, I’ve been spending a bit more time on TikTok, making art videos (and silly memes), should you be on there too. Here’s my link!:
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/frie.ndsofdorothy/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hoyle_(performance_artist)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Johann_von_Uexk%C3%BCll
Chaos, Territory, Art: Deleuze and the Framing of the Earth
An Immense World: How animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us’
https://www.phoenixbrighton.org/Events/community-takeover-a-seat-at-the-table/
https://www.phoenixbrighton.org/Events/platform-graduate-award-2023/