I am a socially-engaged visual artist. I work principally with moving image, making standalone artists' film and installations. My work often plays with mainstream and accessible forms – documentary, music video, magazine – so as to move beyond a traditional gallery audience.
I am interested in who makes work, how, why, for whom, and why that matters. I often produce work within a discrete community or interest group, making work with a personal connection to my collaborators and broader social relevance. I want to celebrate and make visible the joy of the making process itself and explore its value for individual and collective growth and change. I develop processes to enable diverse groups of people to make work together. This focus is mirrored in the subject matter of my work, which deals with themes around our social environment and relationships with one another.
Full list of shows, talks, teaching, awards etc: here.
Curatorial work: here.
Film work produced by satellite.
Editions via artists’ imprint bored.of.works.
Consultancy work: here.
WinterSessions Residency at V2, Rotterdam - exhibition Fri 27th Feb
2025 Awards for Artists - Paul Hamlyn Foundation (UK)
Artist Award recipient - Henry Moore Foundation (UK)
Never Sleep - Four Corners/Chisenhale Gallery (London, UK)
2024Rabbits Road Press/UCL Residency (London, UK)
2023 Never Sleep - Chisenhale Gallery Project Space (London, UK)
An Intermission acquired by Arts Council England for the National Art Collection (UK)
2022 Selected - Lodestars - Film London (London, UK)
Prophecy - Mead Gallery (Coventry, UK)
2021 Jury Member - International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) (Amsterdam, NL)
Aesthetica Art Prize - longlist (UK)
Baltic Open (Gateshead, UK)
2020 Bloomberg New Contemporaries (UK)
Trellis Commission - UCL Culture (London, UK)
International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA): Best Children’s Documentary Award - Jury Special Mention (Amsterdam, NL)
Gasworks Residency (London, UK)
2019 British Film Institute (BFI)/DocSociety Made Of Truth Award (UK)
Guardian/Joseph Rowntree Foundation Award - Doc/Fest (Sheffield, UK)
Constellations - UP Projects/Flat Time House (London, UK)
2014
i was commissioned to make an artwork as part of the 'next stop byker' programme, a project that sees a new piece of public-engaged artwork created for the inside of byker metro station. byker is an eastern ward of newcastle upon tyne, UK.
the ward has a relatively long history of being one of the least well-served areas of the city in terms of social amenities, as well as being one of the poorer areas of the city. it's also lucky to have strong communities and to provide spaces for all kinds of interesting artistic, industrial and social movements throughout its history.
early on i realised that one of the effects of the relationship between byker and the rest of the city is a relatively poor record of events there, impacting upon the status of the ward within the city. famous people are often recorded as being from a wealthy neighbouring ward, when they are in fact from byker of one of the neighbouring less well-off areas.
i worked in partnership with researchers at the city library, and newcastle university, to unearth people (living and deceased) who have made notable impacts upon national life, and are from, lived in or worked in the area. i then created a design modelled upon the national portrait gallery, or a similar national gallery, featuring wallpaper, quotes, brass plaques and gilt frames, celebrating notable people from the area.
as well as creating the work, i ran a series of workshops in design and illustration for local young people. through donations, i made sure that these workshops left a legacy of computer equipment, software and expertise.
the piece was well-received, and outstayed the typical display period of the programme. several of the people featured either got in touch or attended the preview event, and it was written up in local press. i passed through a few times after it was installed, to see friends i'd made as part of the research process, or who had come to workshops. each time it was nice to see people on their way to work, or heading out for the day, stopping to read about a famous musician, social reformer, writer or similar, who had lived and worked in the same place as them.
Commissioned by: NEXUS; Arts Council England (ACE)