I feel immensely grateful to have been awarded a Developing Your Creative Practice grant by Arts Council England. This funding is specifically to allow individual practitioners to take time to focus on their creative development. I will be using mine to feed my growing interest in moving image work. Until now, I've used digital video in a very simple way, and primarily for documentation. I want to master more complex recording and editing techniques and to 'play' with the technology.
I'll be developing material and footage for a film that draws on the the legacy of Alec Harley Reeves (1902-1971), the influential inventor and psychic researcher. This will include looking at the potential of technology to generate ‘supernatural’ phenomena (eg interference and ghosting). Above all, it's a valuable period of risk-taking and experimentation where, for once, I'm accountable but I'm not working to the deadlines of an exhibition or commission.
Running from April to December, it's a self-designed package of hands-on 'learning by doing' supplemented with mentoring from experts and peers. Megan Calver will act as a creative consultant on the film, collaborating with me to utilise our joint research and practice to date that's focused on revealing hidden signals beyond human senses.
Having been rejected by ACE far more often than awarded, I'm only too aware of how defeated some other artists will be feeling right now. If you're one of them, I hope you manage to pick yourself up and try again. Funds are short, competition is fierce and no matter how good your application, you also need a big dose of luck. It was my turn this time, and I'm very grateful.
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