Call Two: A Publicaton

You are being asked to produce a new work or submit work for a group
publication that will be published the week commencing 26th of March.

The publication will be titled: “Hand held: portable, compact translation.”

You should consider how to make or adapt your work to fit an A5 printed
page, this WILL NOT simply be a smaller version of existing work but a rearticulation
of your existing practice.


MY PROPOSAL.

Like many men and women in today’s society I have hang ups about my body. The ‘powers that be’, once the church of religion and now the church of consumerism/media/fashion industry etc, through years of manipulation have managed to instil into us a shame of our bodies. From being ‘born in sin’ and having to be covered up to stop us from being tempted to ‘sin’ even more, to now having to look and be adorned in the right way to be accepted within society and you have to be accepted and do what is considered normal otherwise there is something ‘wrong’ with you. Ultimately, acceptance only needs to come from one place, from within.  We are constantly battling, whether you are aware of it or not, with these outside influences of manipulation (the illusion of this reality we exist in constantly being reinforced) and our inner nature to want to just be ourselves and to be accepted for who and what we are. Consequently we become confused about who and what we are and lose that connection with our true self. I believe that to be able to be truly creative and honest in our work as artists we need to be in touch with our true selves, this is where insight and inspiration grows from. It has taken me 38 years to get to this point of allowing myself to find out who and what I am and to start accepting it. Until I do this, the battle within will continue and there will never be a true inner calm and sense of place and self. I have spent 25 years battling with my body. I have never felt comfortable ‘being’ in it/of it, I feel restricted and trapped. Yet, ironically, it is my tool to feel the freedom and space that can bring inner calm when needed. I move and use my body to become more aware of its physicality to gain a connection with a part of myself that is ‘out’ of my physical experience.

MY PLAN

Usually I map my perception and experience of my body and the inspiration that comes through using my body in the landscape through words and print. For this Call I would like to map my relationship with my body directly onto it with writing. An acknowledgement and celebration of a part of me that contributes to my creativity and my perception of who and what I am.  This is a performance piece that will be documented through photography. The piece of work to be submitted for the publication will be an A5 image of one/multiple images from the performance.