Self Portrait Prize 2021: longlist

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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

Panel host: autobiographical animated documentary

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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.

New writing published in Animation: Practice, Process & Production

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I’ve written about the the process of making Hysteria for the academic journal Animation Practice, Process & Production and I’m thrilled that an image from the film has been chosen for the volume’s front cover.

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Hysteria: An autoethnographic reflection on making an animated documentary film from archive material

Abstract:

This paper investigates the process of collection, interpretation and modification in the making of an experimental animated documentary film. In 2001, I made a two-minute film, Hysteria, as a first year project on the master’s animation course at the Royal College of Art. Given as a starting point the word ‘bedlam’, I researched the history of mental healthcare and discovered documentation of medical practices in the late 1800s of clitoridectomy and genital massage as a ‘cure’ for the condition of hysteria.

Making the film was a singular, insular journey – a stream-of-consciousness voyage of discovery: uncovering and collating material and then interpreting it through visual experimentation. Key to my process was use of a sketchbook that became a space for montage: juxtaposing material from contemporary sources against archive documents and incorporating research material into my visual experiments.

Using autoethnographic writing, I return to the state of mind that produced this film – asking how and why it came to exist – and through audio reflection I re-read the sketchbook to analyse the processes of drawing, annotating and editing which produced it. In doing so, I attempt to understand the intuitive process of interpretation, and to draw out insights which can inform my future practice.

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Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize

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The Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize exhibition opened on 24th May, at an absolutely packed Piano Nobile Gallery at  King’s Place, London. My ink drawing ‘Ready for a Change Now’ was long listed from over 1000 entries. Ruth Borchard was a writer who came to the UK as a Jewish refugee from Germany in 1938. She collected 100 self-portraits by British artists, and the biennial prize celebrates her collection.

Sadly didn’t win the £10K prize this time, but it was fantastic to be there for the opening, and see my work exhibited alongside Eileen Cooper, Julian Opie …and Tracey Emin in the crowd too!

New work-in-progress in Lisbon

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Very happy to say that I’ll be presenting work-in-progress on new animated documentary film ‘CFFH’ at the Society for Animation Studies annual conference from 17-21 June 2019.

This project returns to material produced in development of a film 20 years ago, examining the archive of sketchbooks, scripts and artwork which articulate the experience of losing my dad to alcoholism. For the first time I will be using autoethnography consciously within the film-making process (rather than as a tool for reflection on previous work), as a means by which the ‘me now’ can interact with the ‘me then’.

Details of the conference can be found here: http://sas2019.ulusofona.pt

 

 

‘Herein’ at Experimental and Expanded Animation Conference

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At University of Creative Arts, Farnham, Herein will be screened in a programme of shorts as part of this conference, 13 Feb 2019. Tickets are free! Book here

“Experimental and Expanded Animation discusses developments and continuities in experimental animation that have proliferated in the context of expanded cinema, performance and live ‘making’ and are today exhibited in galleries, public sites and online.

Through presentations, dialogue, screenings and performances, the conference builds upon the recent publication: Experimental and Expanded Animation: Current Perspectives & New Directions, edited by Nicky Hamlyn and Vicky Smith.”