I've been making preparations today for the event next month with Poetry Film Live. Chatting with Rosie Garland and Helen Dewbery was lovely and we've recorded Rosie performing one of the special poems from the 'Book of the Film' of Because Goddess is Never Enough. It was brilliant - not least because that's the first time I've seen Rosie perform that particular poem. I will have to make it into a film one day. You'll have to join us on Thursday 8th June at 7.30pm to find out which poem, and to watch the reading.
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Next week I'm finally getting together with Rosie Garland and meeting for the screening of our film 'Because Goddess is Never Enough' as part of FilmedUp at Home Manchester next Wednesday 28th September at 6.20pm. I am very excited!
I didn't quite make it to the final line-up ... but considering around 500 entries to the Women X Film Festival I am still very pleased to have received an Honourable Mention from the judges for 'Because Goddess is Never Enough'. The event will take place from 2-4 September in Darlington, UK.
7pm Friday - 22nd October - an online event as part of the 2021 Big Poetry Weekend
Helen Dewbery is going in search of the perfect poetry film. And is showing a clip of my work! Thank you Helen :) September 2021 at Espacio Gallery, Shoreditch - some snapsSo pleased with how the (dare I say it) halfway (?) staging post of 'Because goddess is never enough' film looked in Espacio Gallery. And also pleased with the reiteration of Space Negotiations. Time now to reflect and push each piece onwards and upwards to their next development.
Also it was a brilliant week with the other artists involved in Osmosis - support, conversation and companionship - thank you Tom Hackett, Julian Woodcock, Robert Good, Belinda Mitchell and Eileen White. So many thank yous for all who have helped so much in getting me this far with 'Because goddess is never enough'. Not least and including the curator for Osmosis Ahmed Faroqui, my mentor Rosalind Davis, and Will Cross and Sarah Brown and their generous and equal obsessions and interests in Tilly Losch. And of course, none of it would be possible without my wonderful writer and performer Rosie Garland, dancer Natasha Jervis and voice performer Alison Glennie. Supported by my Arts Council England Develop your Creative Practice Award. The 2021 lockdown restrictions have thrown out my intended plan of work on my project. The photographic studio I found was closed, the sound recording was closed and I felt this project was so much about a human, a dancer, that I was very wary of going too far without working on photographing the body. I stalled ...
However, discussing the photographic sessions with the studio made me think about using studio flash. I've always restricted myself to daylight photography, thinking that any kind of studio flash was out of my reach and impractical. But I completed an excellent Skillshare online course on using off-camera flash in order to learn the concepts of flash photography (I had previously only used studio lighting on a City & Guilds photography course many years ago, and I think that was with static lights not flash). I bought a relatively inexpensive Speedlight for my Nikon and I've been playing. The manual settings are so straightforward (at least when you are going for a trial and error approach) that I wish I had tried this years ago. The flash power is just another factor to adjust to get the right amount of light on the subject - in conjunction with aperture, ISO and so on. And the consistency over daylight is just so fantastic because I am repeatedly photographing the same thing over and over. It is an unexpected outcome, but this is certainly developing my creative practice - so thank you to the Arts Council and the DYCP award. It is already making a difference. The photography studio is now open again and I'm going for an induction later this week. Then I will plan the session with the model - and I've got more options than I would have had. I'm feeling nervous, but its another step into something new which is exciting. My positive from 2020 was working through the year with a mentor - Rosalind Davis - through the a-n Mentoring Programme. I have written about this experience on the a-n website
My goal was to build my own confidence and to challenge myself to build a body of work. The project evolved and changed throughout 2020 as the pandemic brought in restrictions and challenges. And I certainly didn't get as far as I'd hoped. However I think this constant refining of my project and focussing in on the essentials was ultimately no bad thing (as frustrating as it was along the way). By the autumn I had clarity and a clear plan, and put together my application for an Arts Council Develop Your Creative Practice grant. At Christmas I heard I was successful. An amazing ending to the year! So now ... 2021 - the project takes shape and really can get underway. The funding will mean I can be a little more ambitious with the production, and more importantly work with collaborators and be able to pay them. I am collaborating with an amazing writer - Rosie Garland, and we are creating a series of ten 60-second films inspired by the life of 1930s dancer Tilly Losch. We are looking at the creative credibility and equality of women - thinking about how far we've come in 90 years, and yet how far we've still got to go. Because goddess is never enough.
The festival will be happening as an online screening event. Please check their website for the latest details. https://www.artlitlab.org/events/midwest-video-poetry-fest-2020
As of writing this post - the details for the online event have yet to be updated from the originally planned 'in real life' festival. Moss - poem by Natalie Whittaker - published by Ignition Press |
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