Tag: art

new work for exhibition in Plymouth

I was invited to make a piece of work for Room to Manoeuvre’s project Totems for Troubling Times, a residency at GROW Studios in Plymouth which will culminate in a public-facing event as part of Plymouth Art Weekender.

The invitation to contribute included detailed guidelines:

AN INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE

We are looking for work that blurs the boundaries between the sacred and the transactional, the sincere and the absurd, the everyday and the extraordinary, using e.g. humour, spectacle or unease to prompt audiences to consider the complex relationships between belief, value and exchange. Viewers might be encouraged simply to observe and reflect on a work, or to undertake a symbolic or performative action.

MAKE A GENUINE FAKE RELIC

A relic is a physical object usually used as a focal point for prayer and is associated with a religious figure, a prophet or a saint. Traditionally, relics are categorised as being either first class (actual physical remains of a person), second class (items that were owned or used by a person) or third class (something that has touched or been held in close proximity to a first or second class relic).

We propose a fourth class or “genuine fake relic”. These works will be designed to invite curiosity without prescribing interpretation. They should be small items contained within some sort of vessel (e.g. a drinking straw in a test tube or a thimble in a tin), and can be any shape and made of any material. They will be a maximum size of 15cm x 15cm x 15cm but might be smaller.

I made a box, titled ‘I bite a coin’, that refers to scapular relics as worn by older generations of my family, and within it have constructed a ‘fetish’ that alludes to ornaments on handbags and backpacks, personal collections, found objects, souvenirs, as well as relics and cures. There are three four-word poems or incantations on the outside of the box, and a further comment on the back. The texts refer to tests for authenticity, and to the use of relics for cures and good luck.

The GROW project space will be open to the public whenever Room to Manoeuvre are in residence throughout the first three weeks of October, including all of Plymouth Art Weekender (16th to 18th October). A “Ritual Celebration” (meet the Artists, wine and nibbles) event will happen on Friday 16th Oct between 5.30 and 8.30pm.

Swim Litany live performance 27th August 2026

On Thursday 27th August at 1800hrs I presented a live version of Swim Litany in the gallery at 37 Looe Street as part of the Bathing Places exhibition. Following a very short introduction, a group of 10 readers performing as a ‘speech choir’ gave a rehearsed reading of the text in three parts.

Venue: 37 Looe Street

Performers:

Rachael Allain, Paul Beaumont, Mo Bottomley, Benjamin Brake, Elena Brake, Katrina Brown, Charlie Cornforth, Rosanna Irvine, Sam Machell, and Matti Spence

Thanks to Angela Piccini and Sefryn Penrose of 37 Looe Street for hosting us.

Swim Litany at 37 Looe Street

Swim Litany: A score and a performance

Swim Litany is a visual text and spoken word score published as an A3 poster. One side presents a range of information sourced from diary records of my swims from mid-summer 2025 to mid-summer 2026. This data includes references to place, to bodies of water, to those I swam with. On the other side textual material is organised into three areas, each section having a different character, with the potential for performance by one, three, or more voices. 

Swimming is something that I do, it is part of my life, and I fit it around other things – weather, work, travel, health. Senses of rhythm, of repetition, of the social activity of swimming are evident in the printed poster and in performance. Interruptions to the rhythm and variations in the text record the impact of the rest of life on my swimming, while the writing acknowledges my appreciation of access to safe water and my physical ability to swim regularly.

For a live event on August 27th, a group of performers will read from the text, their voices mixing, blending, bumping against each other as they navigate the three sections. Rhythm, repetition, overlap and silence will depend on the character of the sections, and the speakers’ responses to the words and to each other. 

Performance:  1800hrs (6.00pm) on Thursday 27th August 2026 at 37 Looe Street, Plymouth, PL4 0DQ  as part of the Bathing Places exhibition. 

‘Bathing Places’ exhibition at 37 Looe Street, Plymouth

I will present ‘Swim Litany’, a new text / spoken word / poster piece, as part of Bathing Places, the summer show at 37 Looe Street in Plymouth. The exhibition, with work from 28 artists runs from June 12th to mid-September (the summer bathing season at Tinside Lido).

Swim Litany is a visual text and spoken word score. Its core material is the diary records of where I swam in the twelve months from mid-summer 2025 to mid-summer 2026. This data is layered with additional references and associations. The A3 score organised so that it offers the potential to be performed by one, two, or more voices.

There will be a live performance of the work at 37 Looe Street in late August. Date to be confirmed. More information can be found at the 37 Looe Street website.

work in The Mountains Are Calling exhibition

I have a visual text / poem included in the World Book Night 2026 exhibition at Bower Ashton Library, UWE Bristol open from Thursday 2nd April to Friday 31st July 2026. The theme or prompt for the submissions was ‘The Mountains are Calling,’ and artists were asked to send works up to A5 in size, that responded to the prompt. We were also asked for texts or works that could be added to a growing bibliography of ‘mountainish’ texts.

My landscape text is on the right in this image from the exhibition installation. (Photo by Marian Kilpatrick) More information can be found here: https://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/wbn2026/