I am overjoyed to share this news that I’ve had been keeping quiet for a while… I will be part of the a-n Artists Council for the next three years, advocating for change in the visual arts sector on behalf of a-n’s 28 000 members.
Please join me for an online screening of my moving image work, I AM OKAY / I AM NOT OKAY made during the first UK lockdown of 2020, as a way of documenting the strangeness and dislocation of living through a pandemic. Curator Vickie Fear will host a discussion.
Two of my works were selected for Southampton City Art Gallery‘s biannual Open Exhibition, and I was over the moon to attend the opening and discover that my moving image work I AM OKAY / I AM NOT OKAY had been awarded the New Media Prize.
The other work selected was an ink self-portrait from the ongoing series, this one made after the outbreak of war in Ukraine and a poignant online conversation with fellow artists which we concluded in silence.
The theme of this year’s exhibition is ‘What does culture mean to you?’ and it includes many wonderful works. It’s on until 10th September.
I’m utterly thrilled to be selected as one of the 174 UK artists to receive a bursary from a-n The Artists Information Company to support my professional development. My project is designed to build my confidence in working with autobiographical themes, across multiple mediums and formats including graphic narratives and book works.
Very excited to share the news that I’ve been awarded Developing Your Creative Practice funding by the Arts Council. This will support a 12 month project, with mentoring from Lenka Clayton and NewArt.School, a course at Royal Drawing School and paid time to make new work.
A big thanks to Solent Showcase who kindly wrote me a letter of support, and also to A-N and Aspex Portsmouth who awarded me bursaries which paid for conversations with TheHourCollective.org and Rachel Dobbs which helped me to believe in the value of my practice and get in the right place to write this application. And thanks to Arts Council England of course!
During lockdown in 2020, I participated in a collaborative postal project, with The Bruton Correspondence School, in Somerset, UK. The work of over 350 artists who re-made each other’s work, is on show at Bruton Museum, until 25th September.
I’m very happy to hear that my ink drawing has been long listed for the Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize, and will be part of an online exhibition hosted by London gallery Piano Nobile and Artsy, selected by a panel including Will Gompertz and Victoria Miro. The letter of confirmation was particularly satisfying to receive:
“From over 2000 entries your work has been identified as an outstanding contribution to the self-portrait genre and longlisted. With so many outstanding works submitted to the 2021 prize this is a huge achievement.”
The exhibitions opens on 14th May, here
I was very privileged to be invited to join a panel discussion on embodiment as a film practitioner, and how this has been affected by the Covid pandemic, at the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies conference on 8th April, with fellow panellists Lindiwe Dovey, Leena Manimekalai and Hanan Razek.
Watch the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODJh0g5SxLU
My animated self-portrait has been selected by Animateka Festival, in Ljubljana Slovenia as part of their augmented reality showcase for female animators’ work. It can be viewed on the festival website here, using the free Eyejack app.
Ellie Land and I were invited to curate and host a panel discussion on animated documentary as part of Animate Projects‘ Accelerate programme of online events during lockdown restrictions, funded by Arts Council England and in partnership with British Council Film, in November 2020.
We were joined by film-makers Signe Baumane, Mary Martins and John Summerson, who generously shared with us their thoughts about using their own life stories in their work.
You can watch the recording of our conversation, from here on Vimeo.
Alys Scott-Hawkins 