Finally I got to see a very important manuscript.
In person.
This has been such a milestone I could hardly believe it was reached. This bursary has been in part supporting me with ‘due diligence’ on a project and I can officially now say I went to the source.
The ‘source’ was this manuscript in Leeds Armouries, and as the library part of it wasn’t actually open until May 2021 it’s been impossible to go and look at it. But finally I went.
And it was great. The manuscript is The School of Fencing by Dominico Angelo, 1765. I have previously been studying the 1787 version and this one is more vibrant, with exquisite plates and lots of detail. It was stunning. I also asked the really helpful librarian to assist me in any other material that he thought might be useful to me as he really knew the collection. He brought out some amazing books that I would not have known about. I am 100% sure that libraries – and librarians – are one of the best inventions since the wheel. They cannot be replicated by a search-bar. Fact. It’s about people.
This is my own photograph of the manuscript, held in the Royal Armouries, Leeds.
Alongside this, I added in a trip to Manchester, to visit Platt Hall. Platt Hall is home to a lot of costume, and I was able to meet with the curator Miles Lambert and access original pieces from the 18th century and look at embroidery details. It is absolutely fascinating doing primary research. I could feel all the light-bulbs going off, where connections were made to other things. Amusingly, I found a book at home a month later, but which I had borrowed two years ago and lost. It completely ties to all this primary research I had gathered. It was deeply satisfying to see these two things come together – it made me realise how much I have been thinking and reading in the right area over a number of years and this is gratifying.
What I learned was how the embroidery on the coats were far more suited to my purpose in their weight and texture, that the lines they followed were closer to those of the actual body. Which makes sense, because the idea of a coat for example follows the contours of the back more accurately than a dress.
It was also interesting to see how fine the fabric was in reality – some of the embroidery on the women’s clothing was done on muslin or other very thin fabric, which was extremely delicate. Massive thanks for the access at Platt Hall, who let me take my photographs and look at such amazing items.
As this research ties into a body of work I have been making for a long time it now feels like I have a really thorough understanding of my idea from all angles. It is particularly important to me to scaffold this work with this historical research….It’s tied to the politics of making work as a woman with my own body using a needle. I feel I need to cover all bases… to make sure that it can’t be…demoted. To say this with 100% certainty: I really know what I’m talking about.
I went to stay with my friend and mentor, the artist Sian Bonnell. Sian has a practice which includes performative photographic elements and is also in her own work, so I felt that she would really get where I was coming from and also be able to help me identify if I had any gaps in my thinking. We had an ‘official’ mentoring session as part of the bursary at the end of my stay, but to be honest there was so much sharing and thinking going on throughout a few days that it felt much deeper than an ‘official session’. Mentoring is a real art – to be mentored and to be a mentee. There’s a lot going on and it’s reciprocal. It’s not adult-bullet-points. Although sometimes it can be…But it’s more of a chemistry… to help someone get where they need to be. In my particular practice, and with this particular body of work, I wanted to build an army around me. And Sian is brilliant to have in my army.
I’m going to write separately on mentoring as I think it deserves it’s own discussion.
