I’m an artist and writer.
I work with text, image, video and performance making work about voice, writing and acting. I’m interested in words and how we say them, either written, verbally, silently; by occupying a space together, by being apart. Script, authorship and stage feature in my work.
My practice explores how we form in response to others, as a work of relief perhaps, according to the spaces and gaps that another’s physical and psychic form allow. So power eventually, I look at power.
My recordings and performances – direct readings of my text, poetry and dialogues – are an attempt to clarify the author’s voice and anchor it permanently to the text.
I publish, exhibit and perform widely, most recently with The Poetry Society, Leeds Art Gallery, The Poetry Archive, Leeds Summer Group Show, Axis, Leeds Poetry Festival, Chemistry, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Winchester Poetry Festival, Leeds Playhouse, Spelt Magazine, Soanyway Magazine, LEEDS 2023 and Leeds Museums & Galleries.
My work has been shortlisted for the 2019 Bridport Poetry Prize, 2020 National Poetry Competition, 2022 Winchester Poetry Prize and published with The Poetry Society, The Poetry Archive and Spelt Magazine. My poetry collection THE BELL TOWER is published with The Emma Press.
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Statement
The written work I produce is a text that forms a central framework or script to subsequent iterations in live, video and audio formats. These are all sculptural. The text is the first materialisation. All attempt Voice. I define Voice as any manifestation of a personal statement, feeling or presence. This iteration could be unspoken, unwritten, articulated through any means. Crucially, I define Voice as something expressed and transmitted; it almost always has some urgency and necessity. A value. In my own practice, Voice also means the act of speaking.
When I repeat my written work out loud, whether live or recorded, I’m attempting to not perform the work. I’m attempting to locate the original inner voice with which I first heard or saw the words scroll in my head. Subsequent photographic, audio or video works are also attempts to depict these images or streams of consciousness. In this sense, I create a volume or series of work, I, II, III –
Some of my written works are a stream of consciousness, these pieces require few edits or revisits. They may be more successful. By stream of consciousness I suppose I mean spontaneous – but also my consciousness is, by habit, very author-ly.
Much of my written work sits within poetry and I’m happy to be included and asked to participate as a writer in this field. Sometimes I feel like I visit poetry and I’m grateful to those who welcome me. I think I’m still working out what people mean by poetry. I’m curious about abandoning, expanding or changing the term poetry. I may meet resistance to this.
As an artist speaking the words that I write, I’m interested in anchoring my authentic voice to the text, I want to avoid a performative voice – this is a work in progress. I’m interested in how I fail at this.
When I write, when I speak, when I’m with you – it should be me you experience. As close to. I accept that Stanislavski may be in there somehow.
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To find her, you look for reference.