Creative Lives Online Gallery Launch
Following the presentation of Disrupted Meadow at Sentient Performativities at Dartington Hall in Devon in June this year, I revisited the material with recordings from that showing for Creative Lives curated by Kirsty Surgey and Carmen Levick for Sheffield University and Castlefield Gallery, Manchester.
It all began to fall into place.
The challenge, which I saw as a commission but which Carmen insisted wasn’t, propelled me to think deeply about the layers in this new emerging work. It made me ask whether I would ever finish it. I learned through this collaborative endeavour that I was repeating habits and particularly revisiting memories and uncomfortable events of the past. I was becoming curious about how a creative life lived left imprints on body memory and could manifest physical pain. I was suddenly so aware of how much I was re-telling, reframing, recycling stories and habitual obsessions. How could I somehow get over this recurring drama, this incessant banging on about the past?
Should I stop? How could I stop? Was I seeing here yet just another problem? Was I moving on or was I really just stuck? Ancestral and familial history and relationships are full of potential for healing and transformation yet so many unanswered questions remain.
I think the invitation to participate in this project from Carmen and Kirsty gave some kind of permission to revisit, ask again and put it to rest, just for now.
The project went live here on Friday 9 September at a small gathering just off Deansgate in Manchester. I was thrilled to share a gallery launch space with 9 wonderful artists. We had been responding collaboratively to the themes of Memory, Age and Trauma as part of the wider Creative Lives Programme. If you are interested please look at all the artists’ pages and if you look at my offering you will find an introductory note and a transcript for the latest take on Disrupted Meadow.