Making new opportunities for artists - Beyond Otherness

I said in my last post that the next one would be about the other Arts Council grant for which I successfully applied. So here it is.

People who know me, will know that I enjoy making connections with artists and am particularly motivated to make opportunities for recent graduates and emerging artists. This drive sparked an idea last summer that has developed into a project I am facilitating on behalf of Open Hand Open Space, Reading (OHOS), where I'm now part of the (voluntary) management committee. 

Nacheal Catnott: Recollection , 2019 - Film, Sculpture, Performance.

A Yam filled utopia that sees a black womxn embody mother nature.

I'd been thinking about OHOS in the light of the Black Lives Matter movement, the widespread responses to the killing of George Floyd last summer, and the absence of justice for Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery among others. These are yet more tragic consequences of the chronic, systemic racism that is present, not only in US society but also in the institutions and structures of British society. 

Tomilola Olumide - It's About Damn Time, 2018, performance still 

Birthed from the frustration of a creative block at University, IADT discussed themes of emotionally situated challenges in a space that served as a cage to confront the subject and live audience.

I am aware of the privilege we have at OHOS as custodians of artists' studios and exhibition space. Artists need access to these resources, particularly when they're starting out and particularly when the odds are stacked against them because of prejudice and inequality in the allocation of opportunities and resources. This applies not only to issues of race but also of class, age, sex, gender-identity and sexuality. And I was aware that at OHOS our membership is almost totally white European, middle-class, middle aged, cis-gendered, and straight. We want to diversify our membership and audience, and it is one of our new organisational objectives to do so. We want to do more with what we have and make more opportunities for artists, including those from communities who have been underrepresented in our programme and membership in the past.

Oren Shoesmith - They taught me how to go into the wilderness and come back a g, o, d, 

Digital Collage, Text and Performance, 2019 

The culmination of a rite performed on the Fal river bed, Cornwall.

The rite invokes a reimagining of the biblical Temptation of Christ through a trans body.

I hope that sufficiently explains the context behind the project I'm facilitating: The artists decided to title it 'Beyond Otherness'. It will be an exhibition and ten-day programme in July 2021 showcasing the work of seven recent graduates and emerging artists (some examples of their past work is illustrating this post). 

The artists are:

Nacheal Catnott

G.K. Field

Thirsika Jeyapalan
Maryam Kazimi

Ollie Musson

Tomilola Olumide

Oren Shoesmith

 

Thirsika Jeyapalan - over the red sea is my homeland, 2019 - Mixed Media. 

An Eelam Tamil girl by the Marina Beach in India watching the shores.

I spent weeks writing the funding application and was delighted to receive an Arts Council grant for the project. It is the most ambitious project I've been involved in and I am excited to see the way the artists are developing the programme. My role is to enable/facilitate the programme, with curatorial control and agency staying with the artists themselves. I am acutely aware of the problematic nature of my role, as I'm not a member of a minority community so I have been at pains to just open the door, give the artists a free-hand and help where needed. Primarily this is for them, for their careers and audience development and hopefully the first of many projects with similar objectives.

We've received amazing support from the Arts Council and six project partners. But we now need to raise a further £3,500 to complete the budget for the project. If you would like to help support the project, please donate at this link:http://gofund.me/25d78029 (Full transparency, although we have the money to pay the artists' fees, several other costs, including my fee won't be covered unless we raise these funds).

(That link also gives you more information about the project and our wonderful partners.)

Ollie Musson - ’tonsillitis sux!’, 2018, installation and performance at Womp space in Sheffield. A surreal drag narrative exploring body parts, gender, health and recovery.

We sincerely hope that by July we'll be able to put on a physical exhibition, performances and symposium. But we have contingency plans in place to live-stream and put online as much content as possible if lockdown gets extended. This will be one of the first activities in our reimagined gallery space at 571 Oxford Road gallery, in Reading, UK. 

I am also thrilled that the great international artist Harold Offeh has agreed to be the guest chair of the project symposium on 17th July, when the artists will discuss the themes in their work. 

I'll keep you posted as the programme develops but meanwhile, please donate to the GoFundMe if you can.
Love and Peace