It’s been a
busy couple of days - the weekend workshop at Leicester Printworks was special
– the space is an oasis of activity in the cultural quarter which was oddly
calm – huge post-industrial buildings away from the city centre but just close
enough. The people who work there were helpful and understanding, all creative
people in their own right. The workshop participants were great company and
made some interesting bookwork’s. I developed a new hybrid fold, whilst
responding to a person’s investigation of experimental book structures, if I
lived locally, I would be a part of this.
The journey to
Inverness from Suffolk by train is a mammoth undertaking….but remarkably
everything went well – connections and wi-fi (no complaints, (in-joke with my
parents). Scotland really is another country, especially so far north, and yet
there is even more of it further ‘up’. The place feels ‘other’, every single
person I met was friendly and super helpful. I can understand the call for
devolution and annoyance at the control held by Westminster, a place literally
in another country. I was invited
to talk at the Scottish Artist Network summit, the theme being around power and
energy, my residency at Sizewell seems to sum that up. I am not an activist, or
even an artist/activist in what might be considered a ‘traditional’ sense, but
I think my activism if I have any is positioned in a broader, more socially
engaged way. I guess the point or intention of what I do is to enable or
encourage thought, creating a space to consider, or reconsider an issue. A
moment to contemplate. It was a great
opportunity and interesting to be in Inverness talking about the SZC residency
- meeting a lot of artist/activists - seeing how people use their creativity to
attempt to create change, social and political change and challenge
corporations, capitalism and those in power. This is not my position but maybe
it is something I am actively involved in, in a much wider way. Prompting
people to just ask themselves questions - about how they choose to live their
lives. I have always said that as long as people have full awareness of all
positions on a subject and have access to truthful arguments on all sides, they
were at liberty to believe in what they believed - I ‘didn't mind’ the choices
they made! Don’t not know. Arrogant but as a lecturer there are worst ways to
use the position of privilege and power that I find myself in and have
observed. I think my talk
went down well– my honesty enabled connections to be made – there were some
excellent questions and reflections - lots of positive comments and
conversations afterwards that I'm in the process of reflecting on. As ever the
comments from others inform my thinking about my practice and in many ways
explain to me what the work is actually about. It was fascinating to hear
about issues I had never thought about. The effect of the transition from oil
and gas to wind power on workers involved in generating power and the knock-on
effect on their communities. The devastation brought by a lack of
investment in the area, places having huge changes imposed on them, without
consultation or true community engagement, as ever the money going out to
private firms, investors and shareholders. The fact that this happened once
with oil and is happening again with wind. This was compounded by the issue of
the enclosures, and the slave trade, which in turn paid for more land. And of
course, the reparations paid to former slave owners was used to buy even more
land on which today windfarms are being built on, with which more money is
made. Landlords, don’t you love them. Follow the money! I had many devastating
conversations about the environmental damage we are inflicting and the global
apocalypse we are living in….I left unsure of a future, but I did have a great
time! thanks to all at SCAN. An interesting opportunity whilst being in Inverness talking about the SZC residency was meeting a lot of
artist/activists - seeing how people use their creativity to attempt to create
change and challenge corporations, capitalism and those in power. This is not
my position but maybe it is something I am actively involved in, in a much
broader way. Making objects that prompt people to just ask themselves questions
- about how they choose to be. I have always thought and said that as long as
people have access to information, full awareness of all positions and have
access to truthful arguments on all sides, I ‘didn't mind’ the choices they
made.
