So Much to Announce
Take a deep breath: awarded the Jerwood Arts Development Bursary, recording Hanging Around and promoting the work, designing the new website, developing the new name, planning for the future, reflecting on the past, adapting to the web, subverting the lockdown, general activism, devising over Zoom and much more…
It’s impossible to write a blog that ignores the current climate. I think, overall my main ‘voice’ is positive, aiming to demonstrate all the amazing achievements that myself and those around me reach. However, with coronavirus still tearing families apart and highlighting mass inequalities, and racial tensions beyond boiling point, the context in which this blog fits is huge. We must start this blog by honouring #BlackLivesMatter and supporting #LeftInLockdown as well as many of the other inequalities still rife in this world.
It is a step forward that these issues are firmly on the table and in the social sphere and I believe #LifeInSuspension adds a small piece of dialogue to these mighty conversations. I am proud of the creative output myself, Steve, Sophie and Jen have produced. I am not exactly sure it’s what our initial proposal to the Exeter Northcott described, but it is what it is - honest, raw, reactionary, real and fiery.
The growing unease inside me before the film went to premiere (feeling that the film was too dark and too on the nose politically wise) vanished almost instantly as LifeInSuspension went live. The transition between images, the creativity and diversity, the emotions, the change of pacing, the techniques used, the realness and the sucker punch at the end, was truly needed. I still hope the film is accessible, with jokes, humour and sarcasm, but to make something too jolly and gentle in these times doesn’t feel right or genuine.
So that is the general activism and HangingAround out the way - now an update on our name games:
It's been a long, intense, fun and winding process re-imagining a name to hold my practice and collaborating work. It's important not to be too commercialised or feel like we're selling a service - the idea of this title is not to be a logo but a bridge between everything I do performance wise. A meta-title (yes I have to keep looking up the word meta) to begin the story telling of my practice, politics and offer. I think the idea of actively looking up the word sparked the thinking and action. There's something curious and playful about coming across a word you haven't read before but somehow have an inclination to what it means. It's a lot easier now of course to look up words over the internet, but still has an element of organic, imaginative process! Many of the words we have been playing with are the ones that asks you to pick up a dictionary and wonder what it means.
Great deal of inspiration comes from Nat's elegantly gentle name her practice - AddWater. This genius word play has several inviting meanings: to add water to paint; as a project manager/overseer, Nat's practice sees her as the binding element between material and creation; adding water to plants creates life etc. etc. This word play speaks volumes to Nat’s dynamic offer and I go to bed at night with different word combinations swimming through my mind. Which ever name we choose it must give a sense of 'funness' and irony whilst honouring the depth and politics of my collaborating process. The name game, searching for words and combinations of words, has been a collaborative process - thanks to Steve for his wordsmithyness and Jen and mum for their reality checks and patience whilst the most interesting yet bizarre suggestions ooze from my head!
The website is still in development and ongoing additions to content are constantly evolving. This blog, as you can see, is at the heart of our new virtual space. A humble three pages make up our website at the moment - it will soon expand and fill out, doing its best to keep up with all our antics. The #HangingAround #LifeInSusupension is taking precedence at the moment which is so exciting! Soon there will be an About Us page, Past and Current Practices and possibly a Gallery!
The website will be designed to share and show and to invite and inspire creative minds into my collaborative process. A big brief I know, and we’re still unpicking what the virtual experience will be but please do keep checking back as this site will evolve alongside our practice and projects.
Now onto the main event (glad you made it this far)
We have been one of the Jerwood bursary 2020 recipients! Yep, definitely as surprised as you. It is an unbelievable achievement - Jerwood are a leading organisation, supporting independent artists and promoting diverse original work. Alongside a pot of money to develop as a practitioner and connect with organisations nationally, the reward means a profile within this awesome, embedded organisation.
Jerwood’s constant streams of funding, support and network means that this achievement goes even further than the actual allocated bursary - an array of opportunities - creatively, strategically, politically and academically - a local artist, part of the national conversation.
And Jerwood have been amazing. Acknowledging that covid has disrupted everybody’s plans, they were not only up for discussing changes to the bursary’s original intentions, but created a blank canvas for applicants to reimagine how the bursary would best suit our circumstances now.
I am still very excited to use the Jerwood budget to travel up to London (and maybe down to Jersey) to share how accessibility and disability can be driving forces within the arts. This epic journey will have to wait however and a chunk of the Jerwood bursary will be saved for that. When the time comes I hope to visit Battersea Arts Centre, Live Arts Development Agency, Sick of the Fringe and Something to Aim For, some awesome organisations leading the way for disabled artists to make it.
But for now, we move into the digital world - and although I cannot wait for the day we can meet in the workshop space, the virtual realm continues to uncover unseen and exciting practice. As a result, Jerwood have allowed us to spend a portion of the bursary on this site and our online presence in addition to more valuable, strategic plotting Nat time - all we need is to conclude the name games, and we will have a sparkling, custom URL. For now, we’re - https://hughmalyon.squarespace.com slightly catchier than the last…
So that is about it for the announcements, apart from a totally new, scary, frustrating, a little lonely, alien yet sometimes surprising way of devising and working creatively over video chats (feels like another blog and a half), I think you are up to date! The Jerwood announcement could have definitely been a separate post because it really is huge news, but the last couple of weeks has been a whirlwind in so many different ways. Please do check out #LifeInSuspension #HangingAround and submit a response to be part of a unique documentation and subversion of the lockdown. We already have 10 plus people involved with a range of submissions - alot of original music which is great!
Navigate to the #LifeInSuspension page to find out more.