The year so far

Work in progress for inclusion in The Future Present | 2026

January didn't get off to a good start when I heard that an application I'd made with another artist to be part of the Freelands Foundation's Two Together studio programme had failed. We felt we had a strong application, but we didn't even get to interview.

The thought of spending a month in a large, purpose-built studio space (as opposed to my kitchen table, a muddy field or a windy beach) was a wonderful thing to contemplate. But, as with so many opportunities advertised at the moment, the competition (for even a modest fee) was impossibly intense. The cursory rejection, after so much shared effort on our part, made me look at two other proposals I was drafting and almost give up.

Now I'm left with an even sharper awareness of my lack of a permanent studio - one of the factors that is driving me towards moving image practice. Digital video and sound can be planned at home, made on location, edited at a desk and stored on a drive. But, in parallel, I would still like to be able to let "my fingers do the thinking" as my fellow artist Stella Tripp puts it, and that means a dedicated space, even if it's just a table at home that's used for nothing else. It's led me to consider permanent rental of offsite storage to clear some space in my house. It feels counter-intuitive to rent commercial storage rather than a studio, but this kind of space is far more readily available in Exeter, and in some cases actually cheaper.

In better news, I'm looking forward to the inaugural cinema screening of my new film The Porous Body at Two Short Nights in March.  I'm also cooking up plans with Frankie Williams to take on the 48 Hour Film Challenge - writing, shooting and editing a three-minute film to a brief that won't be known until the 48-hour countdown begins. In the meantime we've been checking tech, scouting locations and gathering props, costumes and potential extras.

More good news is that a piece I wrote on class and its impact on my art career has been accepted by Axis for a forthcoming publication. This was so difficult to talk about that I resorted to metaphor and now feel I bottled out - especially when I heard Sarah Ryder talk (see below).  But I really think it's something we need to acknowledge, so I don't regret having a go. (See a previous attempt here.)

I've also made 200 tiny packets of seeds and shipped them off to Nick Davies at Loophole Projects for inclusion in a forthcoming publication The Future Present. 

And despite a strong urge to hibernate, I've made an effort to be out and about at film screenings and various artists talks and meetings.  I truly believe one of the best individual actions we can take in the current geopolitical climate is to stay connected and look out for each other. Today's outing was to see Sarah Ryder closing her fabulous show Multiferals at Exeter Phoenix with a fascinating talk that underlined how limitations (of class, space, time etc) need not hold us back. Far better to work right up to and bounce hard against them: resourcefulness can have amazing results.