In 2004 I was artist in residence at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge working in the archive department. I spent the first part of the residency observing, filming and taking photos throughout the hospital as well as researching into the many records, ledgers and photos that were housed in the archive’s strong room.
The images shown here are just six from the final exhibition entitled “The Mundane and the Monumental” that were shown at Addenbrookes.
“The archive and my experience of taking photographs and filming in the hospital inspired my decision to explore the importance of the minutiae of the everyday life of people visiting or working in the hospital, as well as the huge changes and dramatic experiences that take place there. Underlying and motivating the work is the desire to record and to understand paradoxes that are present within it – fragility versus substance, the dramatic versus the everyday, stillness versus the passing of time. The work also explores the complex relationship between what has happened in the past and events that are occurring in the present.”
I also worked with Rosy Martin on a piece of work entitled “Outrageous Agers” in which we use our own bodies and experiences in an in-depth, theoretical and humorous exploration of our ageing process.
Resume
I was brought up from the age of 5 in the far North East of Scotland, moved back to England in 1978 and have lived in Cambridge since then. I became involved in Cambridge Darkroom in the mid 80s and in 1988 decided to pursue the dream of studying photography and became a part-time student at the Polytechnic of Central London (now University of Westminster), whilst working and bringing up my daughter.
During the course my nephew died tragically and the work I produced as a result of this informed much of my subsequent work in which I manipulate, re-use and recontextualise found images, looking at family relationships, memory and narrative. In 2002 I completed an MA in photography at De Montfort University.
I now use both digital and non-digital methods to produce work and think of all the methods and techniques that I have learnt as my “palette” or “tool-box” that I can use as required. I make my living as a freelance artist, photographer and community artist/facilitator.
Exhibitions 2005 National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford “I’m not serving time, time is serving me, an exhibition of work produced with a group of prisoners from Askham Grange Prison. 2004 Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge The Mundane and the Monumental, work produced as artist in residence 2004 BCA Gallery, Bedford Our Silence is Your Comfort 2003 Peri Gallery, Turku, Finland Outrageous Agers with Rosy Martin Reviews and Publications 2002 Guardian Newspaper “Cellulite for sore eyes” by Chris Arnot
Awards: EEMLAC (East of England Museums, Libraries and Archives Council)& Awards for All (artist in residence at Addenbrookes hospital) LighterLife award -first prize with Bodyscapes with Rosy Martin
The work can be viewed on
http://www.varchive.org.uk/outrageous/index.html
