I know I haven’t written much since the installation opened in October, this is because I have been so busy with the learning programme connected to the show, with talks and workshops to families, schools, staff – and next week a general Artist talk for anyone who is interested. This will take place on Thursday 9th at 7.30pm in the Studio gallery , and we’ll go up for drinks to the Late shift bar afterwards as the NPG will be open til 9pm.
.Prof Janis Jefferies, of Goldsmith’s University, who has been mentoring me for the past few years, since we met through my first textile-based project The Loom: from text to textile (2004-6) is going to be there and we are hoping to have some kind of in- conversation. I am always hungry for dialogue around the work I make, because it is relational work I guess . I have had a lot of interchange with the public through he learning programme so far, and I am hoping this will extend to the arts community too.
I have been concerned at the lack of coverage /writing about the work and have been talking with a writer about possible doing a piece on the show as I feel it exposes and draws together so many rich threads and issues that are of ‘now,’ particularly in relation to the Paiwand group. My concern has also been based on what the legacy of the work might be, beyond a set of photos -since it is a work that, literally, has a lot to say. I have suggested a few times to commissioners of this kind of temporal, relational site-specific installation project that video documentation would be a good idea. For the first time in three years, this has been listened to and acted apon, and the NPG are going ahead with planning to make a short film on the project. I am really pleased about this and also about how enthusiastic they are about it. I do realise that, as mentioned before, resources are a primary element in enabling works like this to be documented. But it’s also the culture of this organisation that seems willing to listen and get the value of what could come from it. There is also some trepidation as it is going to involve bringing together all three groups -who have not met before- to do a workshop and be interviewed about the project. So now we have to focus on what I can bring to make this happen in a relaxed and engaged enough way so that the encounter is meaningful for the groups and filmmaker has rich material to work with.
If you’ re interested, there is an essay ‘One and Another- a handshake with the ancestors’ that Janis wrote for the catalogue of ‘The Gifts’ project, (part of the shape of things commissions) which fed directly into this commission. You can download it from my site here.
