Birmingham

Ive been in Birmingham the last few days, its always a great visit. A city I love. Going to East side projects Im aware its more community focused than Spike. As studio holders we are kept very separated from the gallery, and it feels like an exclusive gallery for the higher brows of the art sphere. We have curators who tend to focus on the studios and gallery as separate entities. I wonder whether it will ever become a place where we can all be more part of the gallery downstairs and have the friendlier community atmosphere of places like east side projects. Maybe even a Bristol open exhibition?

My art practice is changing currently, I have paused making while I process the massive change of working in a Prison with adult males and trans people. My art practice parallels my psychotherapy work and Im sure the heavy material from the prison will follow me to my studio and affect me somehow. Im already finding the ideas in my mind changing and the drawings Im creating are looking new.

Im going to a festival next week, after which I will have more studio time and will be focusing on expressing all this emotional material that has been pushed into me, that I need to expel.

I have been exploring what I have somatised from the prison and Im noticing that I have a desire to hit into things, hit clay or play drums. However Ive been tired and have developed a shoulder injury making it hard for me to do this. Maybe there is something in that, the frustration and being stuck with pent up energy that has no where to go. Its leaving me feeling lethargic and thinking about 'what ifs'. Some parallel process here with those stuck in prison. I wonder how this will affect what I do. Despite my want to make energetic work, it seems I will need to go down a more gentle route, maybe drawing and colouring pencils, for now.

East Side Projects Install View