several more weeks have passed – still no new work made. other opportunities pursued. application made for internship. curation is difficult. art video submissions mighty mediocre. bit gloomy.
early morning hours and train journeys! that is where art fits at the moment. note to self – must find a way of prioritising it better…..how can it be a month since i last posted? i think the summer holidays make time fly by.
so, things are happening. which is exciting. i religiously read the arts jobs and arts news and the a-n listings for ops. also i have signed up to the withoutabox film festival thing in order to access the film festival circuit with unravel. as a result, it has been and will be screened in several places around the uk in exhibitions and in screenings. i have not yet seen it in any of these situations which is frustrating – when i had some animations played in leeds, we went up to see them in situ and it was brilliant to see how someone else presents work. i always find the presentation aspect of moving image to be problematic so all input always interesting. i heard yesterday that unravel is “preselected” for a film festival in barcelona…….. i am not sure what that means but apparently hear definitive decision on august 31st.
the buzz around this film is a great feeling but my little voice inside is wondering if there is any more work as strong in me? i suppose i have to try making some and see what happens. so hush little voice and be patient.
first step towards this was a long overdue trip to actually see some art yesterday. i went to the haunch of venison and was blown away by the work of joana vasconcelos. she works with traditional craft – particularly crochet and other thread based activities – and reworks found objects. also creates some machines – in particular a piece called “passerelle” was one of the most compelling pieces of work i have seen in ages. all her work seemed to me to question notions of domesticity, power, patriarchy, women’s roles – all the stuff that fires me up. so it was a trip to reinvigorate the dormant art muscles. although what that has to do with videoing out of train windows i have yet to establish……
i have also become involved with southampton film week – i emailed susan beckett who runs city eye (sfw’s organiser) offering my services – thinking i could make people tea and suchlike – and have found myself placing ads in arts news, a-n online listing, artsadmin e-digest in an attempt to gather moving image work and curate a 6 week screening programme of art video. it will be 3 x 2 week exhibitions under the themes of beginning, middle and end. although themed exhibitions can feel restrictive, we felt that these were sufficiently open to allow broad interpretation. which begs the question – why theme at all? and i came to the conclusion that it was to give me a framework as i have not really done such a thing before and felt i needed something to hold on to. it is a very short deadline – ads have just gone out and submissions have to be with us by aug 27th. i have no idea what to expect but it will be interesting to be on the receiving end of the dvd containing envelopes rather than me putting one in the letterbox with all my hopes and dreams and knowing not what will come of it!
exciting times.
a gentle revolutionary, working with death, knitting, the human/non-human-animal relationship, and the status and representation of women, sarah works individually and collaboratively with video, photography, drawing, and yarn based craft. sarah’s work has been selected for open exhibitions, screened at national and international film festivals, and been commissioned by the national trust. she has been known to intervene with temporary works in public spaces.
